Last Friday the Fort Bragg Food Bank was as festive and full as a New Year”s Eve party, three days early.
People chatted and joked, while waiting for a humungous crop of fresh produce and bakery items, which had been donated by Harvest Market and Safeway. But a wealth of food and clients can mean the exact opposite beyond the walls of the Franklin Street non-profit.
There are more hungry people everywhere this year, with local clients using the Food Bank up 7 percent over last year. Nationwide, the median increase in requests for food was 10 percent. Food Bank type programs in 13 of 19 survey cities, including Los Angeles, reported they could not meet the demand for emergency food, a survey by the mayors of U.S. cities showed.
And there can be too much food.
Warehouse manager Lance Nelson filled up the big Food Bank truck twice with more food than could be given away in several days. Local grocery markets donated so much because of overstocking for the holidays. Sales were apparently down. Nationwide, and locally, holiday sales slowed way down in December, after a faster start than usual in November.
Food banks are having a tough year across the country. As the federal deficit soars, state and federal programs have less to spend and the gap between rich and poor widens. Religious organizations have been making up some of the slack, but many people are unable to get the food they need this winter, according to news accounts from across the country. Federal and state funding for food and nutrition programs has not grown since the turn of the millennium.
In Fort Bragg, donations were up this year and the Food Bank was able to do the best job of serving locals in recent memory.
“We have seen all the stories about food banks around the country suffering from shortages,” said Fort Bragg Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy.
“But in this community, people have really stepped it up and we have had a great holiday season,” Severy said.
Severy credited all those involved with the newspapers” Season of Sharing effort, which she believed had set a fund-raising record in 2007.
We talked for more than five minutes, as she described all those involved and I scribbled the names down. The list was truly long, with efforts from the Do Gooders Dinner at the Little River Inn which raised $5,000 while guests enjoyed a gourmet four-course meal and auction, to an effort at Cheshire Books which provided 110 gift-wrapped books for young Food Bank clients while educating youngsters in the middle school AVID ( Advancement Via Individual Determination) program about the issues surrounding the Food Bank while they wrapped books.
The Food Bank”s success clearly comes partly from the fact that it serves so many political, religious and cultural groups, I thought, as I interviewed clients for this last article. I talked to Regan Ayala, who once worked professionally as a clown and who hopes to get back on her feet as an artist.
“These people at the Food Bank help out so much and do much more than the rules say they must,” she said.
She was dressed in every color of the rainbow and was there for food, although she has been a volunteer in the past. Nearby, Don McDonnell, a Navy veteran from World War II, tirelessly swabbed the floors of the Food Bank. Yet, they all seemed to belong together.
The Food Bank is a place where otherwise parallel worlds on the Mendocino Coast cross and mix. The old Fort Braggers with their tales of the mill and those who came here in the Summer of Love can both be found as clients, volunteers and giving donations. There are Latino people in all aspects of the operation. Former business leaders of the town mix with the homeless in the client lines.
Severy said strong support continued this year despite hard times for the housing industry.
“There were several donors who always help who are in real estate or construction. I was wondering about them early in the year, but they came through again this year,” Severy said.
Most of the staff and volunteers at the Food Bank seem happiest when everybody gets as much as they need to eat. True, there are those really delicious items that people compete to get, like Thanksgiving Coffee, Mendocino Cookie Company delights and those Harvest Deli sandwiches. The Food Bank likes to give senior citizens first crack at all the food.
Then, it comes down to spreading it out just right. The freshest items sometimes have to be held back, for there to be enough for tomorrow. That wasn”t the case on Friday, when there was so much fresh food that everybody got to stuff their bags full. Word quickly got around but the leftovers for Monday were fabulous and filled several pallets in the walk-in freezer and warehouse.
The Food Bank”s role as the source of the community”s nutrition extends to other unrelated efforts, such as the Christmas dinners offered by First Baptist Church, this year just before Christmas, and the Fort Bragg Lions Club Christmas day dinner. The Lions event this year was packed with people from the whole community, not just the seniors it is intended for. The Food Bank relies on these efforts to fill in the gaps.
On my final visit to the Food Bank for this series I took home some more delicious food including one of those gigantic chickens that everybody believes are too tough to sell in the store. (It was tender.) And I got some gourmet golden raisins that were vacuum-packed and six months beyond the expiration date.
Common sense prevails, although quietly at both ends of the donation realm. The milk and vegetables are donated looking fresh and well before their expiration date. They could still be sold and are sold when they sour. Items like the raisins, or packaged smoked salmon get passed out when well beyond the date — but safe. I found out that there are actually no laws that govern this anyway.
One thing I observed in my Season of Sharing series for the Advocate-News and The Beacon is a dearth of those more worried about keeping order than helping the clients. That is rare in the world of helping and part of what makes this charity special, in my view.
Severy said the Advocate-News and Beacon”s coverage was crucial. If our articles were truly fun to read, that happened because of the people I met and the rewarding nature of the work. I did see a freeloader or two but mostly a true melting stew. Having to constantly worry about where the food is coming from acts as a great equalizer and seems to eliminate the gender, racial and class prejudices of many people, though not all.
Severy says there will be another big need come May, when most people are having too much fun with summer to worry about the Food Bank. I encourage anyone who hasn”t given and isn”t sure about the Food Bank to do what I did — come down and pull up a chair and enjoy a truly open, friendly, non-judgmental place that helps keep many people going.
Season of Sharing
Dec. 31 was the last day of the newspapers” Season of Sharing fund drive for this year. By press time, the drive had met — and exceeded — Publisher Sharon DiMauro”s goal of $20,000.
Since more donations were expected to arrive in the mail following the New Year”s Day holiday Tuesday, the total amount the drive has raised could not be determined this week.
As of our early presstime Monday, this week”s donors are Travel Shores Trailer Park, Myra Beals and Ida Matson, 1st Monday Bunketts (& friends), Charlene Stevens, Dr. P.P. Coukoulis, Andrew Klacik, Bruce and Karen Smith, Braggadoon Signs & Graphics, Marianne McGee, Paula Cohen, A Tile Shoppe, Paul and Linda Dutcher, Mendocino Solar Service, Maggie Watson, Barbara Barkovich, Charles Lee in memory of Jean, Steven and Deborah Farmar, The Campbell Group and two anonymous donors.
Next week, the grand total and the names of everyone who contributed this year will be printed (except those donors who asked to remain anonymous).
