If the idiom, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” is correct, our hearts are experiencing extraordinary heights of fondness.  Especially towards teachers and childcare workers, since schools and daycares were closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  While it appears that our community will continue to grow that appreciation in the months to come, the Boys and Girls Club has recently begun to alleviate the overwhelming need for childcare in Santa Cruz County. Across the county, clubhouses have begun to accept the children of essential workers for a full day program (8 a.m.-6 p.m.) from Monday through Friday.  

For over 22 years, the Central California Alliance for Health (CCAH) has served our community, the entirety of Santa Cruz County, Monterey, and Merced as a nonprofit health care plan over 330,000 members. While 1 out of every 4 locals have visited their business, they’re hoping to support more than just their members during this time of crisis.  Last week, the CCAH board pledged 1 million dollars from their Medi-Cal Capacity Grant Program (MCGP) as a COVID-19 relief fund, for community members in dire need.  Kathleen McCarthy, the CCAH Strategic Development Director that oversees the MCGP, described how these funds would directly impact our county.  As soon as COVID-19 began to develop in the U.S., the CCAH started “reaching out to funders, current grantees, and community partners to ask about current community needs.” After many board discussions, the first allotment was decided.  While the 1 million-dollars will be disbursed throughout the three counties for multiple causes overtime, the CCAH decided 600,000 of those 1 million-dollars should go to food banks immediately.  Santa Cruz County has already received 157,000 dollars of the allotment as a donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank.  McCarthy proudly asserts, “That’s equivalent to 628,000 meals.”  The CCAH decided to donate as quickly as they could to the food bank because, “Food is most urgent, pressing need in our community right now… The food banks in all three counties we provide for have experienced anywhere from a 100% to 400% increase in calls and in person demand as of recently.  So many need food in the current state of our economy, and many more are confused about getting food safely, so they contact the food bank.” Food insecurity has concerned the CCAH for quite some time.  According to a CCAH 2016 member survey, “close to 50% of our members were living in food insecure households, meaning they worried about affording food or were unable to purchase food.”  McCarthy greatly sympathized, “It’s already hard enough right now, without deciding between rent, food, and medication.” The CCAH already has plans for the “remaining funds to be awarded over the coming weeks, but for now food is the most urgent, pressing concern… Other needs will present themselves as time goes on, but food banks have an immediate, tangible impact right now.” While 60% of the MCGP will go directly to food banks, the CCAH is providing for other community needs as well.  This past Friday, 20,000 dollars of the grant were approved for the Teen Kitchen Project, a Soquel nonprofit where teenagers provide community members with life-threatening illness healthy, home-cooked meals.  The CCAH is also “deploying resources to other community organizations, to fund basic health needs, like providing diapers, baby wipes and formula, and delivery of groceries to higher-risk residents.  McCarthy also emphasized the needs of “local organizations that serve the unhoused with water, soap, and masks, protective equipment for non-healthcare essential workers and front-line nonprofit organizations. The remarkable motivation behind the grant stems from their mission, “to provide successful health care guided by local innovation,” according to McCarthy.  “The CCAH is all about community and while all populations are being affected right now, our most vulnerable members of the community are disproportionately affected.  We needed to do something to help out.” The grant program started donating to local organizations in 2015, in accordance with their mission statement, “to expand access and quality of healthcare in our community.”  McCarthy looks forward to continuing that tradition, by “remaining flexible and aware of community needs,” and Santa Cruz County is grateful for it.

Dear Readers,                                                                                                            May 1, 2020

The homeless problem in Santa Cruz is no secret. Travel down Pacific Avenue or look near the Clock Tower, and you’ll see that the moderate weather and accessible resources create a welcoming environment for the less fortunate—so much so, that the City of Santa Cruz just hired Brooke Newman to serve in the city’s newly created role of Homeless Response Manager (more on her in a later edition).

We can all agree that closing public green spaces has been difficult.  Throughout this crisis, our community has had access to a personal escape, whether it be the park two blocks from your house, some alone time on a surfboard, or a lengthy hike in a state park.  So, from April 8th to the 15th, when those spaces were closed at the order of Dr. Gail Newell, our community felt a little more claustrophobic than before.  Understandably, these spaces had to close to keep our community safe, as it was becoming impossible to social distance in these suddenly crowded spaces.  Santa Cruz County Sheriff, Jim Hart expanded on the current county-wide situation and summarized the thoughts of many, “While the vast majority of Santa Cruz County residents are staying home and following the direction of the County Health Officer, unfortunately some visitors and community members are treating this extraordinary crisis as a holiday.”

You can ask any gardener (maybe even the gardening columnist for our paper!), and they’d all agree that we have hit an important moment in our seasonal gardening practices.  Not only is the weather perfect to be outside, not too hot or too cold, but it’s a great time to get your plants in the ground and tended to.  Gardening sales almost always peak in the month of April, but this year we have a phenomenally high peak.It’s quite understandable.  What else have we to do, that gets us outside and productive?  You can only walk around your block and say hi to your neighbor so many times in one day.  I chatted with several locals in the gardening industry about astonishing demands for goods.  Greg, an assistant store manager at the Ace Scarborough in Ben Lomond, found that “our store was stormed for paint, with everyone thinking now was the time to get to that back bedroom that never got a new coat.  But now, we’re working so hard to keep plants on the shelves.” Renee Shepherd, owner of a popular seed company based in Felton, asserted that “sales have gone up 400-500 percent for all large seed distributors.” Shepherd thought “the first day of increased demand was just an exception, but then one day became three, three became five.  Now that it’s been driving up for a week, it seems like we may have hit the peak.”While the demand might be great for business, it’s also created many difficulties.  Morgan Scarborough, the Vice President of Ace Scarborough, has 1/3 less staff than before sheltering-in-place. “Many employees have chosen to shelter-in-place, which is quite understandable, but does make for staffing difficulties.  We’ll be glad to have them back when the crisis passes.” On top of the staff Scarborough is lacking, it’s been a challenge keeping his current staff and community safe.  “With everything currently going on, it’s requires constant evolution to keep us safe.  We’re social distancing, wearing masks and gloves, have installed shields at the registers, we’re pushing for curbside delivery, are using sanitizer, and proper PPE.”  The community has also been helping, and Scarborough extends his thanks for, “letting us be open and shopping locally… Having people close to home they’re finally realizing that we’re here.”Scarborough also wants to caution against “bored shoppers... If you have essential needs, come get them, but please don’t bring the whole family.” Greg, the assistant store manager, asserts that it’s really easy to tell the difference between necessities and non-essentials, especially during curbside pickup, “I recently got a request for a porcelain chip kit and to bring out several kinds of brooms so the customer could pick their favorite, and I told him, ‘I’m sorry, but others have more pressing needs.  We can’t do this right now.’” Aside from the odd encounter, Greg has noticed a lot of good in the Ace community recently, “People are getting friendlier and friendlier, and everyone is really pitching in to help.”Shepherd and Scarborough, have a more complicated theory behind the motivation for all this new gardening.  Both agreed that gardening is an excellent activity to keep occupied with while sheltering-in-place, but they also commented separately on an especially high demand for produce seeds in the past week.  Scarborough explained further, “a lot of people are looking towards home farming during these times, out of concern for food availability.”For this reason, Renee’s Garden is the ideal business to purchase from, as “we originally wanted to grow varieties for people who want to cook, so we now pick varieties based on their easy culture and great flavor.”  She has simple advice for any newcomers trying their hand at home cultivation, “start with what you like to eat.  Try to grow a salad garden, with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, and such.”So, get out!  Enjoy the sun, whether you’re watering, planting, weeding, thinning, or trimming.  Just make sure to respect your local garden department and only buy what you need.

Last week, the Press Banner introduced you to Payson McNett, a Cabrillo instructor who’s using technology and innovation to create masks for local healthcare workers as they combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, we get down and dirty with another team that’s helping to make life a little brighter (literally and figuratively) for local residents: the Felton Fire Protection District. Ian Jones, Engineer and Communications/IT Dude, took a few minutes out of his day to enlighten us on the district’s efforts to spread a little cheer during this time of shelter-in-place, and remind us that helpers are just a phone call away.