Second Harvest faces big budget shortfall

Programs to bring fresh produce and groceries to low-income families at public schools and other convenient locations may fall by the wayside next year. Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties revealed Wednesday that charitable donations are unusually low this year, leaving the food bank with a potential $8 million shortfall.

Second Harvest’s annual budget relies heavily on its holiday campaign, which runs from October through the first week of January, when residents tend to do most of their philanthropic giving for the year, said Second Harvest CEO Leslie Bacho. Half of the Second Harvest’s income comes in during this narrow period, and the organization was hoping to raise $16.5 million. Bacho said donations were barely past the halfway mark as of last week.

Each week, Second Harvest distributes more than a million pounds of food — half of which is fresh produce — to needy families in an area spanning from Gilroy north to Daly City, usually through a network of nonprofit partner agencies in each region. Community Services Agency of Mountain View and Los Altos, for example, receives about one-fourth of its groceries from Second Harvest each year, which it then distributes to low-income families struggling to pay for food.

Lately, Second Harvest has sought ways to reach more families, particularly through public schools and health clinics. The nonprofit recently launched food pantries at Mistral, Castro and Theuerkauf elementary schools in Mountain View, making it easier for families to pick up food. Bacho said Second Harvest is also setting up food distribution centers at low-income housing complexes, setting up farmers market-style tables full of groceries for people to pick up right in their backyard.

“The goal is to make it as convenient as possible, and to bring it to where the families already are,” she said.

The goal was to launch more food pantries at four elementary schools, three clinics, five housing complexes and a college campus. But faced with a budget shortfall, Bacho said the roll out of these new services may need to either delayed or canceled entirely.

“We’re going to try to protect the programs we already have in the community,” she said.

Despite the booming local economy and low unemployment rate, Second Harvest estimates that close to 27 percent of residents of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, or about 720,000 people, are “food insecure,” meaning they struggle to pay for food and are at risk of going hungry. The problem is driven primarily by the high cost of living, which leaves little money for food among families making less than $84,750 in Santa Clara County and $105,350 in San Mateo County, according to a report released by the nonprofit earlier this month.

Bacho said the food pantries at schools and housing complexes are part of Second Harvest’s mission to reach as many of those hungry families as possible, and that the organization has been able to serve about 257,000 people each month — a “tremendous amount,” but with plenty of room to grow, she said.

What residents may not realize is that unlike other nonprofits, Second Harvest relies heavily on smaller donations from individuals, which make up more than 60 percent of the annual budget, Bacho said. The average donation made by individuals is $168, but they tallied up to more than $25 million last year.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize almost half of our funding is from individuals,” Bacho said. “You’d be surprised by just the breadth of our donors.”

Why are donations down this year? Bacho said it’s hard to say. She said rumors are swirling that the national disasters throughout the year, including the major fires that engulfed large swaths of the North Bay and Southern California, may have drawn attention and charitable giving in too many directions. There are also questions about how the newly passed tax law may be affecting people’s pocketbooks.

Regardless, Bacho said Second Harvest is making one final push to shore up donations through the last week of December and the first week of January. Anyone interested in donating can go to shfb.org and click the donate button.