- Feeding America
Recap: Nationwide, food banks are seeing a 30 percent increase in demand over last year, according to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief association in the country. At the same time, there has been a correspondingly large drop in funding coming from corporate sponsorship, foundations and wealthy donors. Food banks need a bailout, but there isn’t a lot of optimism on the horizon. So how will America feed its hungry, as the situation continues to exacerbate? Are there any solutions on the drawing boards? Lots of questions, but the answers are not so clear.
Feeding America has its plate full, so to speak. Never before have so many people needed their services so desperately. Their networks and affiliates are increasingly burdened as money and provisions are in short supply. This means that approximately 63,000 local nonprofit agencies across the country may have to cut programs or curtail services as the situation reaches epidemic proportions.
What is being done to solve this problem?
There are two possible ways out of this mess. One is through increased financial support from corporate, foundation and private underwriting, which in today’s economy is unlikely to happen. The other is through creativity and ingenuity on the part of the food banks ” finding ways to stay afloat by engaging the communities that they serve. That, along with drastically altering their business operations, seems to be what is happening.
“I must say that we are amazed and touched by the attitude of our community,”notes Iris Valanti of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. In western Pennsylvania, everyone seems to be sharing what they can. Local financial services, wealth management companies, the Rotaries, schools, small businesses and countless individuals are coming together to help. “Unlike the squabbling going on in Washington, people out here in real life are trying to pull together and do what they can.”
This is the “can do”attitude that communities must take if they are going to work aggressively to keep these resources open and available to those in need. To adjust to the changing economic climate, food banks need to operate smarter and harder, even though the number of clients is increasing and coffers shrinking. However, this type of communal spirit can only go so far, given the grim, statistics about the economy. According to Valanti, large foundations are reviewing their decimated portfolios and trimming donations, so it has become harder for the Pittsburgh agency to buy needed supplies. At the same time, donations are also dropping at a time when food costs have skyrocketed by an astonishing 50 percent over the past two years.
Valanti acknowledges the enormity of the problem, but is grateful for the cooperation she’s getting from both the private and public sector to keep the doors open.
The situation in Pittsburgh echoes across the country, but in order to continue operating, many food banks have found it necessary to curtail operating hours or cut back on the number of days they are open, despite increased demand. “It’s better to operate on a reduced schedule than close down completely,”said Norman Diaz, a volunteer at a Houston area soup kitchen, where patronage has increased more than 65 percent over the past two years. “The increase started when people relocated here after Hurricane Katrina,”Diaz said. “Now we have casualties of the economy adding to those numbers”
The Bnai Chesed Food Pantry in Brooklyn, New York opened in 2007, and served about 800 patrons a week. That number has nearly doubled to 1,500 and the operation has had to slash its operating days from six to two, in order to avoid being overwhelmed, especially with the increase in clientele and the decrease in food.
Another way some pantries are surviving is by charging their patrons. “Food banks can no longer rely on donated food like they did in the past,”says Sue Sigler from the California Association of Food Banks. With donations down, many agencies have to buy some of the food they distribute and pass on part of the cost to the community by way of food purchase programs.
In Mesa, Arizona, the United Food Bank’s agencies still distribute free food, but the group has also started a “Help Yourself”food purchase program, offering a bag of groceries for $16 that normally would go for $40 at the supermarket. It includes meats, bread and a variety of produce and feeds a family of four for three days. “Demand for that particular program has risen 49 percent over last year,”says Donna Rodgers, director of the program.
King’s Pantry, a church-sponsored food bank in Milwaukie, Oregon, has a shopping style pantry the second and fourth Thursday of every month. Debbi Estes, coordinator of the program, said, “it’s an opportunity for people to choose the types of food that they prefer”
Some pantries are operating on a barter system. Volunteers do odd jobs, ranging from fixing plumbing problems to mowing grass, and are compensated with a bag of groceries. It’s a win-win situation. “Helping with maintenance or cleaning chores restores self-esteem,”said the coordinator of one Florida food pantry. “It no longer makes our clients feel like they’re getting a handout. They help us and we help them”
Many communities are holding fundraisers to benefit local food banks. Not only does this help bring in needed money, it also creates an awareness of the growing hunger problem. Other food banks are knocking on doors, encouraging small business owners to donate what they can. After all, giving to a good cause is good publicity.
In Richmond, Virginia, the Baruch Food program is going in a different direction. They are taking food directly to those in need ” senior citizens who can’t easily go out and shop. Once a month, the group brings carloads of groceries to retirement communities. For $6, the seniors can fill a grocery bag with meat, fish, deli items, produce, bread and dessert. “I don’t know what I’d do without them,”said one 88-year old, who filled her bag with a week’s worth of food. All of the items distributed come from local supermarkets, who donate soon-to-be-outdated meat, fish, poultry, produce and non-perishables.
Although large corporate donations may be a thing of the past, there are still some companies collaborating on special projects. In College Station Texas, the Brazos Food Bank was the recipient of 32,400 eggs, donated by Feather Crest Farms. “Eggs have always been an important staple in the American diet, but it is also one of the hardest food categories to acquire,”said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America. This year, farmers from across the country will donate more than 12 million nutrient-dense eggs to help make sure America’s food banks are well stocked.
Continuing through the month of March, Curves, the women’s fitness centers, is sponsoring an annual food drive. They are waiving their initiation fee for new members who contribute to their drive. Now in its 11th year, all collected food items are donated to local food pantries for distribution.
Garage and yard sales, cookie bakes, car washes, fun-runs and dance-a-thons are examples of the types of activities that communities are planning to raise money and awareness for their local soup kitchens and pantries. But small endeavors like this will hardly keep up with the continued surge of hungry people ” or the “nouveau needy,”as some have called the clients who show up to food pantries for the first time.
If hunger and need continue to skyrocket, and donations remain stagnant, our nation’s food banks may be the next banks to go belly up. If that happens, who will bail them out?