More than 4.8 million meals raised during Second Harvest holiday drive

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) Second Harvest Food Bank announced that the community raised more than 4.8 million meals during its annual Holiday Food & Fund Drive.

The amount beat the 2019 goal set by the drive's co-chairs by nearly 2,000 meals.

The meals were raised by schools, businesses, cities, neighborhood groups and others within Santa Cruz County, and the drive will help more than 55,000 county residents every month. The drive also raises money to provide food at no cost to the food bank's 200 partner agencies and distribution programs.

“Four million, eight hundred and nineteen thousand meals sounds like a lot of food, and it is, but more than one in five residents of Santa Cruz County face hunger. The high cost of living here really stretches the resources of our residents. People are forced to make hard choices between necessities like medicine, housing, and food. So we challenged the community to help more people in need, and they came through," said Second Harvest CEO Willy Elliott-McCrea.