What's New? (earlier posts are below)
1/19/24 | Breaking Records and Feeding Hope!
The opportunity to donate for this year has passed. We'll start up again in November 2024. For now, let's reflect on what we've done together...
Once again, our UCSC community has broken our own record of generosity! This year, we received a huge Holiday Food & Fund Drive matching gift of $50,000 from Tibi McCann and Eric Jensen! Our entire campus community rose to meet this matching gift challenge with:
- $24,567 raised by students
- $38,635 raised by faculty, staff, emeriti, and retirees
There was also an anonymous $10,000 donation from a fan of Second Harvest Food Bank who heard of our matching gift and jumped on the UCSC bandwagon! That’s a total of about $124,000. Most importantly, that represents about 372,000 meals, which means UCSC provided enough healthy food for 339 people to enjoy three meals per day, all year long - now that’s feeding hope!
Do you want to keep hope alive all year ‘round? The SAB will be hosting a volunteering day at the Second Harvest Food Bank warehouse in Watsonville, in the second half of March. You can indicate interest in joining the SAB by filling out this two-question form. Even if March doesn’t work for you, fill out the form anyway and we’ll let you know when the next opportunity comes up!
Pro Tip for next year: Start saving now so you can “Give What You Get!” Since the Second Harvest Food Bank can buy 3 healthy meals for $1, that makes it more possible for many of us to buy a whole year’s worth of healthy meals for another household like our own:
- Single-person household: $365
- Two-person household: $730
- Three-person household: $1,095
- Four-person household: $1,460
- BONUS: Count your pets in your calculation! :^)
As always, if you or someone you know is in a position to receive food assistance, please visit this web page. In the same way that food goes through seasons, each of us also go through different seasons of giving and receiving. Be sure to fully participate in whatever season you’re in now.
Thank you for feeding hope,
SAB’s Holiday Food & Fund Drive Team
12/11/23 | We're about half way to our $50,000 goal!
So far, our Staff and Faculty have raised about $17,000 and our Students have raised about $8,000! That puts us about half way to our $50,000 goal, for the $50,000 matching gift pledged by Tibi McCann and Eric Jensen.
Students can donate until Thursday, 12/14/23 to pass on your extra Slug Points, Banana Bucks, and Flexi Dollars!
Staff and Faculty can donate here until Friday, 1/15/24. So, you can donate this tax year and next tax year in this same HFFD.
Spread the word to all you can! We've got about one month to raise the second half of our goal! Thank you for feeding hope!
:^)
12/1/23 | Give What You Get...
Now that Giving Day and the United Way campaigns are passed, the Holiday Food & Fund Drive is in full swing! We're about 20% of the way to our $50,000 goal, which we're trying to hit so we can receive the full amount of the $50,000 matching gift pledged by Tibi McCann and Eric Jensen.
Students can donate until Thursday, 12/14/23 to pass on your extra Slug Points, Banana Bucks, and Flexi Dollars!
Staff and Faculty can donate here until Friday, 1/15/24. So, you can donate this tax year and next tax year in this same HFFD.
As always, please reach out with questions or to request that we come speak to your group for a 5-min presentation of how UCSC can feed hope with the Second Harvest Food Bank!
:^)
10/18/23 | New for 2023...
In the past we have had UCSC Groups be a part of our overall UCSC Team. Examples have been: Staff Human Resources, Baskin Engineering, and the UCSC Retirees and Emeriti. For 2023, the UCSC HFFD team is going to create all the group for you! So, all you have to do is email nmccall@ucsc.edu or jbulleri@ucsc.edu and we’ll set up your Group’s page right away.
Also, we're looking forward to the countywide Holiday Food & Fund Drive kick off event. Buy your ticket today and join the rest of the Santa Cruz County Community! :^)
1/9/23 | Finishing strong and planning ahead...
This is shaping up to be another fantastic year of generousity from the UCSC community! There's still time to contribute to our campus community’s Holiday Food & Fund Drive for this year, through Sunday 1/15/23. This helps donors kick off the new tax year with a donation to Second Harvest Food Bank.
Reminder: You can start planning for next year by setting aside a smaller amount each month of 2023 to give in December 2023. Here's the breakdown of how to UCSC provided enough healthy food for 37 people to enjoy three meals per day, all year long - now that’s feeding hope! and feed a household for a whole year:
- Single-person household: $274/year, which is $23/month
- Two-person household: $548/year, which is $46/month
- Three-person household: $821/year, which is $68/month
- Four-person household: $1,095/year, which is $91/month
Happy New Year to you and yours...
The SAB HFFD Team
12/20/22 | Another record-breaking year... and we're not even done yet!
I am so pleased to report that every major population within our UCSC community has shown up in a big, collaborative way for this year's Holiday Food & Fund Drive. Here are the highlights so far (using rounded numbers):
- $28,000 from Students across the campus
- $22,000 from Retirees and Emeriti, including a $20,000 gift from the Kliger family
- $28,000 from Staff and Faculty, including both Academic and Administrative divisions
- $30,000 from an anonymous Santa Cruz community donor as a matching gift, which we fully matched!
- ... and the HFFD doesn't even end until 1/15/23!
With last year's UCSC total being $94,000, and this year's UCSC total (so far) being $108,000, we have bested our best with the help of all corners of our campus community.
Reminder: you can give to this year's campaign up until 1/15/23, to make full use of tax rules, by visiting our campus community’s Holiday Food & Fund Drive web page. Also, you can start planning for next year by setting aside a smaller amount each month of 2023 to give in December 2023. Here's the breakdown of how to "Give What You Get" and feed a household for a whole year:
- Single-person household: $274/year, which is $23/month
- Two-person household: $548/year, which is $46/month
- Three-person household: $821/year, which is $68/month
- Four-person household: $1,095/year, which is $91/month
As we head into campus closure, I hope you are able to reflect on this collective UCSC-wide achievement and be glad! :^)
May your hope increase,
The SAB HFFD Team
12/6/22 | A great start and a generous gift!
The first all-employee email went out on 12/1/22 and our campus community has already raised over $10,000 toward our $30,000 matching gift! Let's keep that momentum going! Remember: one of the best ways to expand your giving effort is to invite us to speak for a few minutes at your divisional or departmental staff meetings. That way all your colleagues can hear about the $1 = 4 healthy meals opportunity... which is actually $1 = 8 healthy meals with the 30k matching gift in play! So, spread the word and let us know if you want our help in doing so!
Also, for the second year in a row, the Kliger family has stepped forward with a generous gift - this time it is $20,000! Their hope is that this contribution will inspire other Emeriti and Faculty to contribute to our campus community’s partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank during this drive, in light of all the benefits SHFB brings to UCSC and the larger Santa Cruz County community.
If you haven't already read about our Give What You Get theme this year, you can do so in the 11/21/22 entry below... and then visit our campus community’s Holiday Food & Fund Drive website to participate.
Thank you for feeding hope!
:^)
11/21/22 | And... we're off!
We've got great news to share with you this year about our campus community’s Holiday Food & Fund Drive. Right out of the gate, our campus has been given a $30,000 matching gift from an anonymous donor in the Santa Cruz community!
Remember this year’s campaign theme: Give What You Get
Consider a tangible action your household can take that centers the provision of food for those who need it. Here is a straightforward question:
- What would it take for you to give enough to feed someone as much as you or your household gets to eat? If you did it, you could Give What You Get!
Since the Second Harvest Food Bank can buy 4 healthy meals for $1.00, that makes it more possible for many of us to buy a whole year’s worth of healthy meals for a:
- Single-person household: $274
- Two-person household: $548
- Three-person household: $821
- Four-person household: $1,095
- BONUS: Count your pets in your calculation! :^)
This year, will you Give what you Get?
As always, if you or someone you know is in a position to receive food assistance, please start on this web page. In the same way that the food we eat experiences seasons, each of us also go through different seasons of giving and receiving. Be sure to fully participate in whatever season you're in now.
If you have any questions about the Holiday Food & Fund Drive, you can come to the UCSC Holiday Food & Fund Drive Help Meeting, on Monday 12/5/22 during lunchtime.
Thank you for feeding hope!
10/19/22 | Gearing up for 2022...
We're all set to go for the 11/10/22 kickoff date of this year's Holiday Food & Fund Drive! But, for those of you who just can't wait to get going, you can already start to give on our 2022 donations page.
Just like last year, we're going to have one, big, unified UCSC team that has several local groups focusing on their local fundraising goals. In order to create your local UCSC group, you can follow these instructions:
- Navigate to the unified UCSC Fundraising page.
- Click the "JOIN THE TEAM" button.
- Fill in your name, email, and password. This will be your login as administrator for your team's page. Click "Sign up" to finish registering your account.
- Fill out the form with your information:
- Be sure to enter "UCSC" as the First Name.
- Enter your local group's name as the Last Name
- (e.g. First Name "UCSC" and Last Name "Baskin Engineering").
- Send the URL of your local group's page to a friend... or all your friends!
As always, if you want in on the fun this year, let us know if you have any questions! We need lots of local group champions to:
- Invite us to come speak at your staff meetings.
- Organize special local events, such as bake sales.
- Hang posters and other reminders around the grounds.
- Spread the word or help out in any other way you like to give!
This year, we have set a campuswide goal of 160,000 meals raised, which is $40,000! If we all pitch in, like we did last year, I'm sure our campus community will be able to help in this significant way!
2/12/22 | UCSC's most generous year to date!
We had a record-breaking Holiday Food and Fund Drive this year! Last year, UCSC raised around $39,000 in donations. This year, again, we raised around $39,000 in donations, PLUS a very generous single donation of $55,000!!! Read on to learn more and catch a sneak peak of an idea for next year…
- Here are the final numbers:
- 224 Unique Donors
- Spread across 12 teams
- $94,025 Raised
- 376,099 Meals purchased
The generosity of our campus community helped feed the equivalent of 85 families of four, three meals a day, for a whole year! Thank you to everyone who donated their time and effort to making this year’s HFFD the most successful to date!
There are three things we'd like to highlight from this year's efforts:
- The use of “Participant” teams was so fun! We had 12 departments/divisions that started up their own fundraising page within the larger UCSC team and challenged their local group to meet a particular goal. If you would like to do this for your group next year and want help with that, you are welcome to reach out to us any time! Here are this year's teams:
- Academic Affairs Division
- Arts Division
- Baskin Engineering
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
- EPC - Educational Partnership Center
- Office of Research
- Physical and Biological Science Division
- Risk and Safety Services
- Social Sciences Division
- Staff Human Resources
- UCSC Retirees and Emeriti
- University Library
- We had a massively generous gift given this year by the Kliger family - $55,000 donated via the Physical and Biological Science Division team page! They agreed to have their story shared in hopes it will inspire other members of our UCSC community to join them in making this magnitude of a life-changing gift. Look for a feature article about this soon. I wonder who will join them for next year…
- This year, we kept the food drive open for the full time, rather than ending before campus closure. There were 16 people who took advantage of the opportunity to donate in the new tax year. Thank you!
Now, we all have 10 months until the height of the next food drive. For one person to feed one person for a whole year, it would require setting aside $28 per month for the next 10 months. If UCSC's current donors did this - without a single new donor added - our community's typical contribution would increase by 57%. That's an additional 91,000 meals. Everyone's situation is different. But, if this call to action is appropriate for you, feel free to jump in with both feet! You can feed a...
- Single-person household: $274, which is $28/month
- Two-person household: $548, which is $55/month
- Three-person household: $821, which is $82/month
- Four-person household: $1,095, which is $110/month
- Bonus level: Count your pets as a person in your calculations! :^)
11/29/21 | Annieglass & Baskin partner up to fight food insecurity. You can join them!
On Saturday 12/11/21, between 11 AM and 2 PM, Annieglass will donate 20% of every dollar spent to Second Harvest Food Bank, on behalf of UCSC! Three things are needed for a purchase to be eligible:
- You need to be a UCSC employee.
- You need to purchase it in the Annieglass' showroom, in Watsonville.
- The piece you purchase must be a "first quality" piece. This does not count for discounted "second quality" pieces.
Also, there will be an exclusive tour of the Annieglass factory that begins at 12:30 PM. I'm definitely going to be there for that! Here is a flyer to use for advertising the event.
This partnership was forged by Ady Weinstein and Melissa Baker, in Baskin Engineering. They just struck up a conversation with one of their favorite local businesses and talked things through until they settled on an arrangement that benefited every party involved... especially the people who will benefit from the food! You can do the same with your favorite local business! It's good for them, it's good for your fundraising team, and it's good for the clients of Second Harvest Food Bank.
For those of you unfamiliar with Annieglass, you can check out their sustainable, handcrafted, luxury glass work at their website or you can watch this short video.
See you there...
11/12/21 | We are "Go!" for launch!
On 11/4/21, the annual Holiday Food & Fund Drive enjoyed a sunny day for it's kickoff event! Our Chancellor, Cindy Larive, co-hosted the event and was joined in support by many others from the UC Santa Cruz community.
The next week, we held a UCSC specific information session wherein we shared tips and resources for generating interest and fund for this year's drive. You can view the slide deck from that event here.
So, things are off to a good start with over $3,400 raise so far! If you'd like to get in on the action you can start to give on our 2021 UCSC fundraising page.
Let us know if you have any questions or if you want to be a local champion that can:
- Set up your "Participant" so you can track the effort of your local department/division
- Invite us to come speak at your staff meetings
- Hang posters and other reminders around the grounds
- Spread the word or help out in any other way you like to give!
Avante!
10/19/21 | 2021... Here We Come...
We're getting all the last details in order for the 11/4/21 kickoff date of the 2021 Holiday Food & Fund Drive! But, for those of you who just can't wait to get going, you can already start to give on our 2021 donations page.
As always, if you want in on the fun this year, let us know if you have any questions! We need lots of local champions to:
- Invite us to come speak at your staff meetings.
- Hang posters and other reminders around the grounds.
- Spread the word or help out in any other way you like to give!
Like I said in the last post for 2020... I can't wait to see what will we accomplish in 2021...
Looking forward to helping folks with you again!
12/31/2020 | What a Year!
I'll keep this year-end wrap up short and sweet. We did some great work in raising funds for folks who needed food. Here are the numbers:
- 210 donations
- $39,948 dollars raised
- 159,790 meals purchased
That amount of meals means the UCSC community fed 36 families of four, for the whole year! Some of those families were probably part of the UCSC workforce or one of their kids was a UCSC student. Let that sink in for a minute.
Our community's generosity provided food security for dozens of families! I can't wait to see what will we accomplish in 2021...
See you next Fall!
12/1/2020 | Everybody Loves to Win!
What's better than helping other people win by donating food? You getting to win at the same time!
Each year, raffle prizes are donated by several UCSC individuals and a few departments and divisions from both the academic and administrative sides of UCSC. Those prizes are raffled off to people who donate to the UCSC Holiday Food & Fund Drive.
The raffle ends on 12/20/2020. This year, it will function differently because of COVID mitigation.
Here's how you can be eligible for the raffle:
- Go to the UCSC fundraising page and click the blue DONATE button to make a donation of any amount.
- Be sure to enter your name so we can enter you into the raffle.
- For every $10 you donate, you will receive one entry into the raffle. So, if you donate:
- $10.00 = 1 entry
- $15.00 = 1 entry
- $20.00 = 2 entries
- $29.99 = 2 entries
- $30.00 = 3 entries
- $400.00 = 40 entries (and so on...)
Though many people like to give anonymously, and for very good reasons, we recommend you attach your name to your donation. Not just for the raffle entries, but because seeing that you donated might help someone make the choice to donate, if they know you endorse this effort.
Do you have a prize you would like to donate? Past prizes have been:
- Lunch for five with the Chancellor
- $50.00 Bay Tree Gift Card
- Two tickets to any Music Department or Theater Arts Department presentation
- $50.00 gift certificate to Garden Company
- Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems certificates
- Bottles of wine or champagne (must be 21 years old to win)
What creative idea do you have for a prize you or a friend could donate? If you would like to donate, you can fill out this one-question form and we'll get back to you.
I hope you win!
11/27/2020 | Meeting Real Needs of Real People in Real Time!
November 2020 Highlights:
- Over 2,000 cars full of grateful people came to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds to receive food from Second Harvest Food Bank on the day before Thanksgiving.
- Since the beginning of November, Second Harvest Food Bank has distributed over 750,000 lbs of food to nearly 60,000 people.
- 483,000 pounds of that food went out through their non-profit partners (e.g. UCSC!). The rest was direct distribution to the community through their nutrition programs and drive through distribution.
While it is true that SHFB helps all of Santa Cruz County, they have a robust partnership with our campus. Read more about how SHFB partners with UCSC.
Let us know if you would like to get involved or if you have any questions.
11/16/2020 | UCSC's Holiday Food & Fund Drive Kicks Off for 2020!
2020 has been a year of changes, hardships, and unpredictability. Yet, one thing remains unchanged - the community's need for access to free food for those in need. Also, one thing that is predictable is that this need will only increase when hardships come.
Thankfully, the Second Harvest Food Bank's Holiday Food & Fund Drive has just kicked off and UCSC is stepping up to the challenge once again! Since the SHFB can purchase 4 meals with every dollar, due their extensive industry relationships, there is no greater way to fight hunger than to invest your donations in the SHFB.
While it is true that SHFB helps all of Santa Cruz County, they have a robust partnership with our campus. Read more about how SHFB partners with UCSC.
Now that you see their unique ability to meet the hunger need and their ongoing commitment to UCSC, you can head on over to the UCSC fundraising page and make a donation today!
Let us know if you have any questions!
