Feeding San Diego marks one year of ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic with heartfelt tribute video
FEEDING SAN DIEGO MARKS ONE YEAR OF ONGOING RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC WITH HEARTFELT TRIBUTE VIDEO
Video features internationally renowned One Voice Children’s Choir singing “Good Job” by Alicia Keys
Click here to watch the video
SAN DIEGO (March 18, 2021) — This week marked the one-year anniversary of the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic and Feeding San Diego’s emergency response efforts. Since March 2020, the leading hunger relief and food rescue organization in San Diego County has distributed more than 32 million meals to people facing hunger across the community. Since March 2020, the organization has also risen to meet the increased need for food in a variety of ways, including purchasing more food than ever before, expanding support and resources for community partners, launching large-scale emergency distributions in areas of most need, and enhancing online resources to make it easier to find food. Despite having to reduce its number of volunteers to enforce social distancing and keep everyone safe—the organization went from 10,000 volunteers pre-pandemic to just 450 in March of 2021—it was still able to produce and pack even more with less volunteers by implementing increased efficiencies.
To honor the stakeholders who helped make the tremendous efforts of the past twelve months possible, Feeding San Diego worked with the internationally renowned One Voice Children’s Choir, comprised of children ages four through eighteen, to create a thank you tribute video. The song, “Good Job” by Alicia Keys, was chosen because Feeding San Diego would like to say “Good Job” to all its volunteers, donors, community partners, and staff for uniting around its mission to end hunger in San Diego County. Using the power of children’s voices to convey this message aligns with one of the organization’s major initiatives, Feeding Kids.
Over the last year, Feeding San Diego hosted seven new emergency distribution sites in partnership with Brother Benno, Community Through Hope, First Congregational Church of Ramona, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, and San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council. Further, it launched largeFor immediate release Media Contacts: Allison Glader (858) 229-1613 aglader@feedingsandiego.org Carissa Casares (858) 283-8541 ccasares@feedingsandiego.org scale emergency distributions, providing up to 1,400 households per distribution with approximately fifty pounds of food and resources. This was in addition to the hundreds of regular food distributions held monthly through its network of 320 local charities, schools, faith communities, meal sites, and food pantries. Staying true to its mission despite the disruption to the food system, nearly 70 percent of the food it distributed since March 2020 was rescued.
“On March 17, 2020, we held our first press conference to outline our COVID-19 response efforts. None of us knew when this began that we would be in a similar situation one year later,” said Dan Shea, CEO of Feeding San Diego. “The unprecedented pace has remained constant since March 2020, and we have worked around the clock to meet the rise in need. None of it would have been possible without the extraordinary support of our volunteers, donors, community partners, and staff. While the road ahead is long, we wanted to stop and say ‘thank you’ for what the community made possible to date. Together, we are feeding San Diego.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, one in eight people in San Diego County faced hunger, including one in six children. Now, the need has surged by 50%. Hundreds of thousands of people are facing hunger, many for the first time. To find food, visit feedingsandiego.org/get-help/.
ABOUT FEEDING SAN DIEGO
Feeding San Diego is a non-profit organization on a mission to connect every person facing hunger with nutritious meals by maximizing food rescue. Established in 2007, Feeding San Diego is the leading hunger-relief and food rescue organization in San Diego County and the only Feeding America affiliate in the region. Feeding San Diego provides more than 31.2 million meals every year to children, families, seniors, college students, military families, and veterans in partnership with a network of 320 local charities, schools, faith communities, meal sites, and food pantries. Last year, more than 92 percent of the food provided to the community was rescued. By diverting more than 27 million pounds of food from the landfill, Feeding San Diego reduced greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, which is comparable to taking 5,300 cars off the road for one year. To learn more about Feeding San Diego and its COVID-19 response, visit feedingsandiego.org.
