ABC 10 Stand Against Hunger - Holiday Meal Kits

Dear ABC 10 Viewers,    

It’s been another year of disruption to both health and prosperity for Yolo County families. Thanks to you and our friends at ABC 10, however, assistance is on the way. 

While some are beginning to see glimpses of hope for stability on the horizon, many more continue to be left behind, due to inequities that already impacted their access to basic needs, such as healthy food, even before COVID-19 struck our community.

As a result, thousands of Yolo County families still are facing an empty dinner table at the holidays.

Just like your own family, these families can begin to gather safely again at last and rebuild the bonds of togetherness that ripped a hole in the heart of the holiday season last year.  However, unlike your family, they are faced with the prospect of no traditional holiday meal around which to celebrate.  A turkey or a chicken and all of the “fixings” are just too expensive for families who already struggle for nutritious meals for their children, their elders, and everyone in their households on a daily basis.

Thanks to your compassion and generosity and that of ABC 10, Yolo Food Bank once again is preparing to respond to human need at the holidays, by “Sharing Yolo’s Bounty.” 

The year-round demand for food assistance in Yolo County suggests that a 50% increase in Holiday Meal Kit requests will persist this holiday season.  This means that once again Yolo Food Bank will strive to offer meals of gratitude to a record-breaking 3,000+ families, each of them now more costly than ever due to food system supply shortages that impact all of us.  May we count upon you to once again support us in “Sharing Yolo’s Bounty”?

With every $50 donated to the ABC 10 “Sharing Yolo’s Bounty” initiative, a Holiday Meal Kit will bring the joy to a local family that every household deserves at this festive time of year: a turkey or a chicken, farm fresh vegetables, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread, cranberries, and pumpkin. These meal kits will be distributed from 10 locations countywide – both in the cities and in the rural communities – in the days prior to Thanksgiving. In connecting families with Holiday Meal Kits, COVID-19 safety will continue to be a priority, just as it is at all of our food access sites throughout the year. 

Gathering, packaging, and transporting these Holiday Meal Kits is more expensive this year than ever before.  Although many generous partners provide what they can, Yolo Food Bank still faces $200,000 in expenses to fully fund Thanksgiving for the 3,000+ families in need of Holiday Meal Kits this year.  With your assistance, “Sharing Yolo’s Bounty” can continue as a Yolo Food Bank holiday tradition, while ensuring that our ability to provide year-round nutrition for these and tens of thousands of additional families remains intact – healthy and whole – just as is our wish for every Yolo County resident whom we serve.

Whether a gift of $5,000 to bring holiday health and happiness to 100 families, $500 to nourish 10 families, or a single contribution of $50 to ensure that one less family faces empty plates this holiday season, your generosity will deliver hope at a time that continues to be dark time for too many neighbors in need. 

May your own holidays be healthy and nourished as another year of extraordinary challenge and potential comes to a close.

With gratitude to you, and to the ABC 10 team,

Joy Cohan

Director of Philanthropic Engagement