Santa may need a bigger sled to bring the Food Bank the item at the top of their holiday donation list — a sled big enough for a storage shed.
Food Bank CEO Nancy Severy hopes a local builder or handyperson will catch the holiday spirit and step forward to help with this request to create a place for badly needed storage. The Fort Bragg warehouse is sometimes so packed with donated food that valuable equipment and materials have to be left outside.
“The forklift has no place to live. We either bring it inside the warehouse where there is little room to spare — or it stays outside, which is undesirable when it”s raining. We could also use the shed for those occasions when we need short-term extra storage space for food,” Severy said.
The Food Bank”s first and foremost need, of course, is always food.
“We still need stuffing, gravy mix, canned pumpkin, chicken broth, evaporated milk, cranberry sauce and canned beans, corn and peas and, of course, turkeys, for our holiday bags,” Severy said.
Those who have visited the Food Bank know that the agency doesn”t splurge on its utilitarian structures.
In 1993, the Fort Bragg Food Bank took over a 4,500-square-foot warehouse in Fort Bragg”s only true industrial zone on North Franklin Street, surrounded by factories, warehouses and yards for state agencies.
While about 900 people get bags of food they take home and feed a total of 1,500 people, the Food Bank building doesn”t look like an open air market or even a social services building — functions it performs quite well.
The building looks, well, like a slightly dilapidated warehouse.
Inside, when morning food giveaways are about to commence, the atmosphere is cheery and as bustling as a New York fishing dock. Cans are piled high. Every square inch seems used by volunteers, who fill bags, sort and stack a rich array of fresh produce, bakery items and sometimes odd and tasty treats, once high-priced items at times, that fell out of favor with consumers and ended up donated.
The organization obviously has spent more on feeding the hungry than on sprucing up the building, which the Mendocino Food & Nutrition Program owns free and clear.
With additional funding from MAZON, S.H. Cowell Foundation and local donors, the Food Bank installed walk-in refrigeration, and purchased forklifts and two trucks (one with refrigeration).
Now, the Food Bank hopes to get a storage shed for Christmas.
“When we receive our once-monthly shipment of USDA commodities, there are several days when the warehouse is packed to the gills — it makes it very hard to maneuver. It would be helpful to be able to store several pallets in a shed during that time of peak inventory in order to be able to operate more efficiently,” Severy said. “We also need a place to store small equipment, supplies and miscellaneous items securely and out of the rain.”
Also on the list for Santa are the following needs: An office desk, a file cabinet, a small office phone system with intercom and voicemail, a roof over the outside food salvage sorting area to protect staff and volunteers from rain while they work and to keep the sun off the produce being sorted.
“We also need a new gate for the entry to our parking lot and the asphalt in the lot needs patching,” Severy said.
The Food Bank is the Eligible Recipient Agency (ERA) for the California Department of Social Services Emergency Food Assistance Program (CDSS EFAP) for Mendocino County. The Food Bank gets warehouse and truck USDA surplus commodities and gives those foods to eligible agencies throughout the county.
About 90 percent of the food distributed is donated (including USDA surplus commodities and local donations). The Food Bank provides a weekly bag of staple food items and clients pick from an array of other food items including fresh produce, dairy and meat items mostly salvaged from local supermarkets.
The Food Bank administers the Commodity Supplement Food Program (CSFP) for seniors and for mothers with young children at six sites throughout the county.
With help from various grants, more recently including United Way, Kraft, and CPIA (Tobacco Settlement Funds), the Food Bank has held nutrition and food preparation classes, and distributed special food bags containing items suitable for clients with special needs, such as children and homeless clients.
The Food Bank was started in 1979 by a group of local women; many are still active in community activities. They worked with others in Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake and Mendocino counties to establish a Food Stamp Outreach program.
The Fort Bragg group raised funds and managed the Greenwood Trucking Co. to buy food in large quantities for distribution through a co-op store. Funding for this program came from North Coast Opportunities and CETA along with space at 650 N. Main St., in Fort Bragg. Mendocino-Lake Food and Nutrition Program became a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation in March 1979 while at that location. Its objective was to distribute food and improve the nutrition of the needy. A popular Food Bank cookbook was developed.
In June 1981, the program moved offices to 242 N. Harrison St. where it shared space with the CARE Project. Soon, though, it had to move on due to the availability of more commodities under the Temporary Emergency Food Aid Program and the subsequent need for more space. In June 1982 it moved to 360 N. Corry St. A small storage shed became an office, and the program came to be known as the Food Bank. It soon outgrew this site and in 1984 moved again to 900 N. Franklin St. At this location it was designated the commodities distribution center for Mendocino County. The Food Bank had ceased having any connection with Lake County, and so, in 1988, the program became officially the Mendocino Food & Nutrition Program, Inc. In May 1993, the Food Bank moved into its permanent home at 910 N. Franklin.
The mission statement of the organization is to distribute food to and improve nutrition for the needy residents of Mendocino County.
How to help financially
Since 1995, the Advocate-News and The Mendocino Beacon have sponsored “Season of Sharing,” an annual community fund-raiser for the Food Bank.
Once again this year, the Community Foundation of Mendocino County is administering the fund-raiser free of charge, enabling 100 percent of donations to directly benefit the Food Bank.
Checks should be addressed to the Community Foundation of Mendocino County (CFMC), and mailed to Advocate-News, P.O. Box 1188, Fort Bragg, 95437. Donations can also be dropped by the newspaper office, located at 450 N. Franklin St.
The newspapers provide weekly updates on the total dollars raised, with the names of contributing individuals and businesses, unless they wish to remain anonymous. The fund-raiser runs through Jan. 31.
Collection barrels
Collection barrels can be found at Safeway, Harvest Market, Purity, the Savings Bank, Fort Bragg Post Office and Curves.
Walk-in food donations can be taken directly to the Food Bank warehouse at 910 N. Franklin St. during regular business hours.
The Food Bank office is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It is closed on Tuesday. For information, call 964-9404.
This week”s update
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Season of Sharing had raised $000000. Here”s the list of contributors who sent checks last week:
