home :: about us :: faces of hunger :: meet patricia

The Family Harvest Program is a direct service program of the Food Bank, which provides supplemental food to low income families with children. During fiscal year of 2006-2007, approximately 30,165 individuals benefited from this program. This is the story of one family who received our assistance.

Meet Patricia
Patricia and her five children moved to California fleeing from Patricia’s abusive husband. Patricia and her children: Ramon 14, Erick 12, Amelia 10, Bryan 6, and Briana 14 months old, were staying with relatives in a two-bedroom house in East San Jose. For two years, Patricia struggled constantly to make ends meet finding work cleaning houses and fast food restaurants.

In August 2006 following her friend’s advice, she enrolled at Center for Employment Training, a vocational school where Patricia studied to become a chef. During the three month she was in school, Patricia was only receiving a modest amount of financial assistance from the school. Her class instructor mentioned that she should look into Second Harvest Food Bank’s Family Harvest Program. She submitted an application and started to receive her monthly food basket.

With the support of the Family Harvest Program, Patricia was able to use the money she no longer spent on food for diapers and clothing for her children. She told Family Harvest Manager, Osvaldo Maldonado, that her family really enjoyed the food and that nothing went to waste. After 8 long months of training and hard work, Patricia found a job in a local restaurant.

Patricia continued her membership with our Family Harvest Program for three more months, and then something wonderful happened. In May of 2007, she came to our site, thanked Osvaldo and turned in her membership card. Patricia said that she had found a great job in Southern California and would be able to live closer to her sister. Patricia is now independent and her children are doing well.

This family expressed tremendous gratitude to Second Harvest Food Bank for the service they received through the Family Harvest Program. It was just the “hand up" they needed to regain self-sufficiency.

Click to visit the Faces of Hunger page, with a video detailing SHFB's role in the community.