Even before COVID-19, Second Harvest was responding to a level of food insecurity in Silicon Valley that indicated there was already a crisis, providing groceries to a record number of clients every month. The economic crisis created by the pandemic has pushed many families deeper into poverty and caused others to seek food assistance for the very first time. We are now providing food to 500,000 clients on average every month, twice as many people as we served pre-pandemic.

Since our counties were ordered to shelter in place, Second Harvest has been on the frontline every day making sure that anyone who needs nutritious food can get it. As we have seen the need for food assistance explode, we have also had to quickly overhaul our operations to implement social distancing protocols that keep our clients, volunteers and staff safe, while dramatically increasing our food distribution.

The continued support of our community is critical because the financial implications of this crisis are far from over, and we don’t expect the number of families who need our help to return to pre-COVID levels anytime soon.