Instead of celebrating its 50th with an appropriately grand event, Sunnyvale Community Services has spent its golden anniversary year redesigning all its programs to be in line with “shelter in place” and social distancing mandates. And the nonprofit, which provides food and rental assistance to local residents in need, made this pivot while dealing with an unprecedented number of requests for its services.
“For the health and safety of our clients and employees, we closed our doors to walk-in traffic and installed an outdoor intercom system so we could speak with clients while they remained outside the building,” reads the nonprofit’s latest newsletter. “Before long, a line began to form. We were flooded with 607 requests for financial aid between March 16 and April 16, six times our usual rate.
“We have dropped off food to over 200 Sunnyvale seniors sheltered in their homes and continue to deliver biweekly food to our 137 homebound clients,” the newsletter continues. “And since we’ve had to curtail physical donations for safety reasons, we are purchasing baby formula, diapers and other critically essential items for families.”
Sunnyvale Community Services has had help from the community to meet this growing need, including $250,000 from the City of Sunnyvale to financially assist residents in need.
“The city has also provided their staff as volunteers, including bilingual employees to help us follow up with client requests and drivers to deliver homebound food,” the newsletter reads.
The nonprofit is also anticipating adapting its annual events to pandemic conditions and holding a drive-through Backpack Day and a virtual holiday auction and hosting a holiday gift card center rather than a boutique.
It’s also unclear when Sunnyvale Community Services will be able to move into its new home at 1160 Kern Ave. The nonprofit hopes to begin a remodel in August to accommodate its case management and food distribution services, and to move in early 2021.
