December 14, 2007

District 8 Report

The gift of time

By Dave Cortese
San Jose Vice Mayor and District 8
City Council member

As we celebrate the holiday season and appreciate the gifts of family, faith, and friends, many of us are moved to contribute to those among us in need. Our community is so fortunate to have those organizations that make it their life mission to assist those who need a hand.

We recognize the spirit that drives groups like Second Harvest, and City Team Ministries, and our faith-based support groups who reach out to all members of our community; offering food for those who are without, shelter for those who need a roof over their heads, and others who just need simple human contact.

Many among us will write a check to support these worthy groups and that's to be appreciated. But the rarest of gifts, the gift that might make the most impact on our community is the gift of time. As we reflect on the past year and look forward to the days and months ahead, we all know how precious our time is. Just think of what an impact we could make if we all gave a few hours a month to support an organization that truly needs volunteers.

Whether it is your local PTA, library, church group, senior citizens center, or literacy project, each of these groups needs not only our financial support but the gift of our time.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties is a private non-profit organization. They currently serve an average of 162,000 individuals every month. Nearly 60 percent are families with dependent children. The food bank distributes over 30 million pounds of food annually to low-income men, women and children of all ages. Their organization not only needs non-perishable food items, turkeys and chickens, but they also need volunteers.

City Team Ministries also serves in San Jose where they provide shelter, food, showers and clean clothes to the city’s homeless. Their staff reaches out to youth and families as well as providing a recovery program for men and woman trying to escape the grips of alcohol and drug abuse. They too are in need of canned food, non-perishable items, frozen turkeys and volunteers as they attempt to reach their holiday goal of providing approximately 7,000 children with toys this Christmas.

Loaves and Fishes Family Kitchen conducts a meal program serving Eastside and downtown San Jose through their St. Maria Goretti Kitchen and St. Patrick’s Church. They provide outreach services such as food bags, social service referrals, and emergency assistance and are creating a children’s program. The organization depends on their volunteers to keep their meal program running. Their volunteers usually serve for 2.5 to 3 hours during which they prepare the food and table, serve and clean up after meals.

As reported recently by the San Jose Mercury News, many of the local San Jose and Bay Area charities are seeing rapidly increasing demand for basic food items not seen since the dot com bust a number of years ago. Carol Patterson, a spokeswoman for City Team Ministries, shared that the ministry’s pantries are simply empty and that many donors are struggling themselves and therefore giving less. This combination of rising need and dwindling donations has also affected Second Harvest Food Bank who has only gathered about a quarter of their goal; 1.9 million pounds and $5 million dollars. The organization is also predicting that they will actually need approximately 10% more than originally thought to meet the needs of local populations this season.

This holiday season, so many are struggling to overcome high rent, mortgage foreclosures, and cost of living increases that have simply outstripped their wages. As we give thanks for all that we have been given and celebrate the gifts of family and friends, take a moment to share these gifts with someone in need. Regardless of how you choose to become involved; be it a few hours of cooking, some extra food or clothing, or perhaps just writing a check, I urge you to use this season of giving to extend goodwill to the community and help make someone else’s holiday a bit brighter.

In addition to the organizations listed above there are many other local groups and agencies that need your donation of time, food or funds. In our district, the East Valley YMCA is looking for toys to donate and Most Holy Trinity Church needs both toys and food for their holiday baskets. There are still more groups in the San Jose area looking for help including Sacred Heart Community Service, Martha’s Kitchen, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, Family Supportive Housing, InnVision and EHC LifeBuilders, among others. For more information about these local opportunities, please contact our office at (408) 535-4908. On behalf of the District 8 council office please have a healthy and happy holiday season and I look forward to talking to you in the New Year.