Letter: Valley Churches short on Thanksgiving food

EDITOR,
Kudos to our community donors and volunteers who have already come forward to support their neighbors in need in this tough economic climate. But Valley Churches United Missions is in a crisis.
Due to unprecedented requests for assistance, we had to close our doors as we ran out of food bags to distribute and needed time, energy and supplies to recover.
The bulk of VCUM’s 28th Thanksgiving distribution was yesterday, Sunday, Nov. 22. At 2 p.m. there were still 89 families in line waiting for their food & we could not allow anyone else to line up — asking them to please return on Monday. People had patiently stood in line for hours. Some since 8 am!
Volunteers worked beyond the allotted time and without breaks. Volunteers were feverishly filling bags as fast as they were being handed out, but we could not keep up! We thought we were going to be OK. There were three food drives on Saturday where over $3265.00 in more food was collected and ALL, yes, ALL, of that food collected has been bagged & it will not be enough to serve all of those coming on Monday and Tuesday.
We are down to the wire and can’t imagine not serving everyone who needs help. It would be a first. There were 680 signups to start with. In addition, 96 more came in last week, and 23 more signed up today, for an astounding total of 799!
Traditionally Thanksgiving has been the holiday with lower signups than Christmas as many folks band together. But WHOA, we fear what may be ahead of us.
We are in desperate need of traditional holiday food items, grocery store certificates, turkey certificates, (we currently cannot accept turkeys as our freezers have failed) or cash to purchase needed items. We will be accepting donations Monday and Tuesday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at our Holiday Boutique 9400 Highway 9 in Ben Lomond.
Credit card donations may be called in to 336-8258 x227.
We will have drivers picking up from VCUM barrels, so keep us in mind if you can drop something in. They are in Safeway, New Leaf, Johnnies, Ben Lomond & Scotts Valley Markets. As well as the Post Offices in the San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley areas.
Linda Lovelace, Operations Director, Valley Churches United Missions