An Integrated Approach to Fighting Hunger with three main objectives:

• Provide healthy food for children and their families
• Educate parents about how to prepare nutritious meals
• Encourage a healthy lifestyle through exercise and activity

Unlike other food programs, the Food For Children program goes beyond just supplying food. It strives to improve the overall health of its participants. Since 2008, participation in the program has more than doubled. In fact, it is the fastest growing need at Second Harvest. Today Food for Children:

• Supports 8,100 children per month
• Serves over 2,850 families per month
• Distributes 1,310,000 meals per year

After a two-year study, Santa Cruz was selected from 23 sites for the new Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center. The Center is part of an ongoing development effort to make Santa Cruz, CA a major eco-learning destination, known for its support of ocean conservation. The Rotary Club of Santa Cruz Sunrise along with the Rotary Club of Santa Cruz are raising funds to outfit the center’s classroom with state of the art teaching tools, AV equipment, and other supplies.

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) screens, trains and professionally supervises caring adult volunteers - more than 1,000 since 1992 - to serve as mentors and powerful advocates for more than 1,500 of Santa Cruz County’s most vulnerable children - those who have been severely abused, neglected or abandoned.

Children with a CASA Advocate are:

• More stable while in foster care
• Receive more of the physical and emotional resources they need to heal
• Better able to succeed in school
• Less likely to return to the system

Children with a CASA Advocate are more likely to grow into healthy adults who can break the cycle of abuse and neglect.