Largest food drive in the country kicks off

SAN CARLOS, Calif. (KGO) -- Second Harvest Food Bank which provided 240 million meals in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties last year, is launching what it calls the country's largest food and fund drive.

Former 49er star quarterback Steve Young was on hand for the announcement today at Second Harvest's warehouse in San Carlos, along with campaign chairman Mike Klayko, the CEO of San Jose based Brocade.

The loss of jobs and the recession caused a nine percent increase in demand at Second Harvest this year. It's trying to raise $11 million and 1.7 million pounds of food.

The issue of hunger and the need for food also hits communities such as Sunnyvale in the heart of Silicon Valley.

While Sunnyvale is thought to be untouched by the high jobless rate and the economic downturn, that's not the case, according to Marie Bernard, executive director of Sunnyvale Community Services, a nonprofit agency.

It operates a food bank and other services to a growing number of clients, many of whom are former managers or executives with high tech firms with advanced degrees.

Many if not most are in their 50s and 60s and have exhausted the 99 weeks of unemployment assistance provided by the government. We will be talking to them and learning more about the situation in Sunnyvale.

We'll have the story posted online later today and on ABC7 News at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

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non-profit, food, charities, san carlos, hunger, peninsula news, david louie

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