Tenet Health Central Coast, which includes Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton and Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, presented a donation by staff members to the SLO Food Bank as a result of its recent Healthy Over Hungry campaign.
The collective staffs of the hospitals donated $1,572 in a weeklong campaign and the SLO Food Bank officials said that each dollar could turn into 4-to-7 healthy servings, so it is estimated that between 6,288 and 11,004 meals were made possible by the donations of Tenet Health Central Coast staff.
The campaign was created to help families that depend on school nutrition programs to be able to feed their children. Members of Sierra Vista’s Pediatric Department – which is the only hospital Pediatric Department in San Luis Obispo County – were joined by other hospital units and staff to present a check on behalf of all Tenet Health Central Coast staff.
A donation of just the average cost of a box of cereal can feed a family of four for two days. The SLO Food Bank reports that they distribute food to over 31,000 individuals every month, 28 percent of whom are children.