STEAC STORIES

December 16, 2020

STEAC volunteers work Saturday at First Baptist Church to get donated gifts and food to needy families as part of the annual Holiday Program. Courtesy photo

Even amid the challenges of the pandemic, STEAC, the Short Term Emergency Aid Committee, brought the spirit of the season to more than 425 individuals and families through its 53rd annual holiday program.

On Saturday, Dec. 15, prequalified recipients lined up in their cars for a drive-through distribution of hand-selected food and gifts donated by Davis families, groups, and individuals who “adopted” them for the holidays.

While 2020 has had an impact on everyone’s lives and livelihoods, for some, this year has deepened hardships they were already facing, while others are struggling with new challenges or experiencing poverty for the first time. STEAC is thankful to the local adopters who donated food, gifts and money to make the holidays special for each low-income family who applied and were accepted into the program.

STEAC is grateful to the staff and congregation of the First Baptist Church of Davis, which donated its facilities and grounds for an entire week to host STEAC Holiday Program volunteers as they collected and then distributed food and gifts.

Adopted families in the STEAC Holiday Program also benefitted from the generous donations of gift cards from St. James Church parishioners and from the Salvation Army of Davis to be used for perishable groceries.

STEAC also thanked DJUSD and the city of Davis for allowing them to stage drive-through qualification interviews in the Davis High School parking lot and the Veteran’s Memorial Center on a rainy day.

Extra-special donations this year were more than 400 hand-made blankets donated by the blanketeers of the Project Linus of Yolo County Chapter, led by Diane McGee, and the special “Santa Kitties” that were donated by Davis resident Jeanette Lamar.

A big thank you also goes out to The Davis Enterprise for being so responsive, publishing articles and supporting STEAC throughout the year.

Individuals, families, groups and organizations banded together to support STEAC or adopt the 427 low-income individuals and families. In addition to the adopters, 125-plus volunteers distributed flyers, interviewed clients, set up and cleaned up the church, collected food and gift donations, prepared for distribution day, and then worked to distribute all the food and gifts.

After the flurry of the holidays settles down, the STEAC office reaches out to hundreds of Yolo County residents, providing help with rental and utility assistance, food, work and interview outfits, books for low-income community college students, job training and more. For information about STEAC, go to www.steac.org.