May is one of those months that seems to hold everything all at once. We celebrate Mother’s Day and the people who nurture and care for others every day. We recognize Affordable Housing Month and the importance of stable housing for families across our community. We honor Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage and celebrate their many cultures, histories, and contributions to the Bay Area. And all around us, students are preparing for proms, graduations, and the transition into summer.
At Family Giving Tree, May also marks the beginning of our Back-to-School Drive season. As others celebrate the end of the school year, we begin planning for the months ahead. Our team is already thinking about the thousands of students who will receive backpacks and school supplies later this summer, giving them what they need to start the school year feeling ready to learn.
Before fully launching into the busy season ahead, our staff took a meaningful detour last week for a day of service at one of our partner agencies, Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto.
Our Programs Team regularly makes agency site visits to the various organizations and schools we work with through the Holiday Wish and Back-to-School Drives. These visits help us learn more about their services, better understand the communities they support, and determine how Family Giving Tree can continue strengthening those partnerships. And, so our partners can learn more about us, we host agency volunteer days, inviting them to volunteer with us so they can see the behind-the-scenes work required to get backpacks and gifts to their program recipients.
After doing a site visit with Ecumenical Hunger last winter, we asked if there were opportunities for our staff to volunteer, and they booked us right away.
The Ecumenical Hunger Program has been serving the community for more than 50 years, and it is clear that it is a critical safety net for its neighbors in East Palo Alto and surrounding communities. They operate a food pantry, clothing closet, furniture distribution program, garden program, and many other supportive services.
In between our volunteer shifts, their team gave us a tour of the facilities and a high-level overview of their work. I was especially touched by how they center on dignity and humanity in everything they do. Their food pantry is designed so that people can choose what they take home. They had food placed on carts for people to take to their cars or to a table where they could pack things up if they were on foot, by bike, or using public transportation to get home. The clothing closet is better organized than some retail stores, with clearly labeled sizes and thoughtfully organized sections so people can find what they need without feeling overwhelmed. Ecumenical Hunger meets people where they are and listens to their neighbors rather than assuming what they need. Their staff was extremely friendly, and their passion for their mission was inspiring.
After the volunteer shift, our team circled up to debrief and reflect on the experience. For many of us, it was eye-opening because we often see more of the backend of this work. We collect backpacks and school supplies and coordinate pickups with schools and organizations, but we do not always get to see the full ecosystem surrounding the families we serve.
In just a few months, children receiving services through Ecumenical Hunger Program will attend their annual block party and receive backpacks filled with school supplies donated by our dedicated community. Then, in December, many of those same children will receive gifts through our Holiday Wish Drive.
This experience helped drive home why we do what we do. A community relies on all of us showing up for one another. When we join together, we can help ensure people are treated with compassion, dignity, and respect.
We came back energized and ready to dive back into our Back-to-School program. It may only be May, but the first day of school is right around the corner.
I want to extend a big thank you to the team at Ecumenical Hunger Program for the amazing work they do, and for the incredible hospitality they showed Team Family Giving Tree.
To view the list of agencies and schools we’ll be serving through our Back-to-School Drive, click here.
In hope, joy, and community,
