Food For Thought is asking for 5 to 10 volunteers; no kids please. 5 would be working in the parking lot to pack groceries with safe social distancing practices. If there are more than 5 people in the group, some folks can help out in the garden working alongside the garden manager, where fruits and vegetables are grown. There will be a cap to the group number at 10 volunteers total, to ensure a safe work environment.
NOTE: current registration is FULL, but please sign up on the waitlist. Registration will be confirmed a few days before the event and the waitlist will be processed in order.
Here is a recent article on Food For Thought and a little bit about the program.
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our lives, collapsed our economy and revealed deep inequities in access to health care, healthy food and housing. At the request of the Sonoma County Department of Public Health, Food For Thought has developed and rapidly deployed a program to deliver healthy meals and groceries to the homes of low-income families who have tested positive for the virus, helping them to recover and ensuring that they stay at home and do not infect others.
A Community Challenge
Coronavirus cases and fatalities are climbing rapidly in Sonoma County. The Latino community has been hit particularly hard; although they make up only 27% of the county’s population, Latinos constitute 75% of confirmed cases of the virus. This is a clear reflection of the disparity in living conditions that the Latino community experiences relative to the community at large (Santa Rosa Press Democrat, June 21, 2020). Over 95% of clients served by Food For Thought’s COVID-19 Nutrition Program are Latino. We have bilingual staff who can serve our Spanish-speaking clients.
The Program
This program delivers enough weekly healthy meals and groceries, including fresh produce and healthy proteins, to provide for all members of an affected household, completely free of charge. Clients receive the service for eight weeks after enrollment. FFT’s registered dietitian tailors grocery orders to health needs within each household.
The Growing Need
Since May 1, when Food For Thought was first contacted about assisting a single family in Petaluma, demand for this program has grown significantly.
Unexpected, Therefore Unfunded
Of course, Food For Thought did not anticipate adding this program when we developed our 2020 annual budget. While we continue to serve our existing clients, the number of COVID-19 clients is growing by the day. The volume of food distributed from our facility has now doubled to approximately 10,000 meals per week.
