An easy way to help
Donation protected
We are a group of friends and neighbors who are joining each week to feed houseless Santa Cruz residents at Ross Camp, a tent camp located just off the intersection of Highway 1 and River st. This has been a cold, rainy winter, and every time I drove by the camp I wanted to do something to help, but wasn't sure what to do. A friend on Facebook detailed how he was delivering some warm soup to houseless campers in Oakland, and I thought, "Hey, we could do that!" So a few weeks later 3 friends and I made 27 boxes of pretty awesome mac-n-cheese, and fed about 75 people. Afterwards we said, "Hey, we could do that again!"
I posted on social media, and soon we had more volunteers, and a few donations!
The next week was a pretty amazing team effort, with 6 new volunteers, plus our original 3. I think about 120 people got a warm meal, there were lot's of happy faces, and people came back for seconds.
The third week we were 15 volunteers, and we fed about 120 people spaghetti, meat sauce, veggie sauce, bread, brocolli, squash, oranges, candy, and water.
This week we served chili, homemade cornbread, maccoroni and cheese, candy, oranges, and water. We were joined by the UCSC Care Club, who helped set up, serve, and clean up!
Why this matters: Although there are places in Santa Cruz offering warm meals, many people in the camp have significantly disabling conditions, and can't travel far. Bringing food to them is both humane, and validating-validating because we are showing that they are part of our community. We see them. We see their needs. They are our neighbors.
Second-Most people here receive food stamps, which does not allow them to purchase warm food. Unbelieavable, right? But true. We all know how our bodies crave warm food and beverages when we're out in the cold.
Last-Heating and cooking food at the camp is very dangerous. Just last week there was a tent fire due to cooking. So, by providing some warm food once a week, we are helping to lower that risk.
A huge thank you to the folks who helped, both by cooking food, serving, and folks at the camp who helped us set up, tear down, and brought food to people who couldn't stand in line.
If you want to help by donating here, please do! The first week this cost us about $110, the following weeks about $250(estimated because many volunteers bought their own ingredients). I suspect our costs will be about the same as we go forward.
We would love to be able to keep doing this weekly. Your support is crucial-we are managing to break even each week, but many of our volunteers only have their time to donate, no extra funds. Each and every dollar donated goes to serving the Ross Camp nutritious and yummy food.
Thank you!
I posted on social media, and soon we had more volunteers, and a few donations!
The next week was a pretty amazing team effort, with 6 new volunteers, plus our original 3. I think about 120 people got a warm meal, there were lot's of happy faces, and people came back for seconds.
The third week we were 15 volunteers, and we fed about 120 people spaghetti, meat sauce, veggie sauce, bread, brocolli, squash, oranges, candy, and water.
This week we served chili, homemade cornbread, maccoroni and cheese, candy, oranges, and water. We were joined by the UCSC Care Club, who helped set up, serve, and clean up!
Why this matters: Although there are places in Santa Cruz offering warm meals, many people in the camp have significantly disabling conditions, and can't travel far. Bringing food to them is both humane, and validating-validating because we are showing that they are part of our community. We see them. We see their needs. They are our neighbors.
Second-Most people here receive food stamps, which does not allow them to purchase warm food. Unbelieavable, right? But true. We all know how our bodies crave warm food and beverages when we're out in the cold.
Last-Heating and cooking food at the camp is very dangerous. Just last week there was a tent fire due to cooking. So, by providing some warm food once a week, we are helping to lower that risk.
A huge thank you to the folks who helped, both by cooking food, serving, and folks at the camp who helped us set up, tear down, and brought food to people who couldn't stand in line.
If you want to help by donating here, please do! The first week this cost us about $110, the following weeks about $250(estimated because many volunteers bought their own ingredients). I suspect our costs will be about the same as we go forward.
We would love to be able to keep doing this weekly. Your support is crucial-we are managing to break even each week, but many of our volunteers only have their time to donate, no extra funds. Each and every dollar donated goes to serving the Ross Camp nutritious and yummy food.
Thank you!
Organizer
Altaira Hatton
Organizer
Santa Cruz, CA
