Willow Glen Resident
News
Sacred Heart's growing homeless spurs need for more 'pop-top' items
By Lydia Sarraille
For as long as Kimberly Abate has worked at Sacred Heart Community Services, a steady flow of people have been coming by the nonprofit agency to pick up food and other basic necessities. A recent change in clientele, however, has prompted the longtime agency to change the kind of donations it's been collecting.
Abate, who is development associate, said the number of homeless coming to Sacred Heart's food bank on a regular basis has risen from between 40 and 50 in May to more than 150 in the past month. Most of the donations are geared toward the working class poor who use the agency to make ends meet, not for clients without kitchens or access to utensils.
"Our problem has been that the kind of foods we give the majority of our customers won't work for the homeless," Abate said.
Abate said volunteers were stunned at first when they saw a man take a soup can from a bag of groceries that he had just picked up from Sacred Heart and throw it against the ground over and over.
Later, they realized he had no way of opening the can.
Abate said Sacred Heart is now asking for community donations of food appropriate to give to the homeless. This includes foods high in protein such as pouches of tuna or beef jerky, soups and ravioli in pop-top cans, and foods such as trail mix, dried fruit and granola bars that will keep well. Canned items with pop-tops or presealed pouches that don't require special openers are preferred, Abate said. The homeless need nonperishable food items that require minimal or no preparation and no cooking, she added.
Bottled water is also welcome, Abate said, since potable water can be hard to come by.
Abate said she can't explain the recent increase in the agency's homeless clients, but Sacred Heart staff will be looking into the issue.
One possibility, Abate said, could be the recent budget cuts to EHC Lifebuilders, a major source of emergency housing in Silicon Valley.
EHC was forced to cut its budget due to dwindling donations.
"We just don't know at this point. It's a big question mark," Abate said. "We will be talking to our customers and doing as much as we can to figure it out because it's not enough to just treat the symptoms. We also try to get to the source of the problem and help get people out of harm's way."
Sacred Heart is one of San Jose's most visible nonprofit agencies; it provides food, clothing and services to more than 50,000 needy residents each year, Abate said.
The agency was originally founded in the home of Willow Glen resident Louise Benson during the 1964 holiday season when she prepared a gift basket and delivered it to a San Jose family who were was void of furniture and food.
The experience planted the seed for Benson's larger mission--feed the hungry, clothe the needy and welcome the stranger. She began distributing baskets of food from her two-bedroom home and enlisting the help of friends from the Holy Family Community Service Club. By 1970, Benson and volunteers, including Leanor and Rex Lindsay, were distributing 829 boxes of food during the holidays.
Two years later, under Leanor Lindsay's leadership, Sacred Heart Community Service was incorporated as a nonprofit.
Today the agency feeds about 400 families daily. Sacred Heart also supplies clothes to about 300 families per day and helps find jobs and housing for hundreds more each month. In addition, the agency offers free and low-cost help with education for children and adults.
With the holiday season and colder weather approaching, Abate said the need for donations will only increase.
"A great way for people to help is to hold a donation drive," Abate said, adding that a drive specifically for food items for the homeless would be greatly appreciated by the Sacred Heart staff.
Other ways to donate include volunteering at the center, donating clothing, blankets, diapers and formula or money to the center.
For more information on donating, visit www.shcstheheart.org.
