Fourteen-year-old Claire Guyader spreads holiday cheer every year through her annual Thanksgiving fundraising drive for the SLO Food Bank.
“It’s special to know I’m helping the community in such a big way,” Guyader said.
It all started four years ago during the pandemic. She turned her love of gardening into a newsletter.
“I hand deliver to their doorsteps. I think I have 16 or 17 subscribers and am on issue around 125,” Guyader said.
The newsletter includes gardening jokes, fun facts, recipes, and more and is a dollar a month for a subscription.
Four years ago, she added something new to her newsletter.
“I attached an extra paper to my newsletters for my subscribes that said, ‘It's Thanksgiving and it’s a special time of year where we give thanks for what we have and it’s a great time to do a little extra and I’m doing a special drive’,” Guyader explained.
She placed fliers around her neighborhood and reached out to Tally Farms to help raise money for the SLO Food Bank.
For the last three years, Guyader has partnered with Poor Richard's Press and Tally Farms to promote her fundraising drive.
“They print and put fliers into 6,000 of their local harvest boxes that go all over SLO County,” Guyader said.
She chose the SLO Food Bank because of the need during the pandemic.
SLO Food Bank CEO Molly Kern says there is a growing need for food bank services.
“We’re serving more people than we ever have in our organization including during COVID but there is so much hope and optimism for the future when we see young people like Claire thinking about their impact on the world,” Kern said.
Guyader’s goal is to raise awareness about the SLO Food Bank.
“Even if they don’t donate this time it’s on their radar and they know about the SLO Food Bank and maybe the next time,” Guyader said.
For more information to help out click here.
