For some, the Fort Bragg Food Bank helps people along their way to the American Dream. It’s a different American Dream than we see on television or the one that still seemed within reach when I was a kid in the 1970s.
Marianna Sallinen, a student in the Certified Nursing Assistant training program working at Sherwood Oaks was working with a disabled client the day we met. We talked about the American Dream and the bizarre realities seen in the political and celebrity world.
Like other generations, she is working for that house someday and the future family.
“My main goal in life is to be an excellent mother,” Sallinen said. America is a very different kind of land of opportunity than it used to be. The average boy could hope for a decent and stable factory or labor job back then. Some could start small hometown businesses. Today, it takes a very clever boy or girl to work multiple jobs with no promise of stability. Housing and higher education cost far more than in the past, both by income percentage and actual dollars.
This changing world has created a much greater need for the Food Bank. Before the Fort Bragg Food Bank was founded in 1979, there was not a class of permanently hungry people. Food Banks are now in most every city, with busy client lists the year round.
The Food Bank is critically needed in this Brave New World. Our generation was often out to make money and didn’t worry too awful much about the poor or where the next meal would come from.
Sallinen grew up in a helping household and knows an entirely different reality than virtual or political reality.
“You have to actually be out here to see it,” she said. Having learned the value of giving and receiving early, Sallinen is a proud client of the Food Bank at times also.
That day we encountered Mindy Peterson and Leanna Crosby from ABC No Barriers. Peterson is an artist who uses herself as a canvas. She can’t really communicate verbally but conveys much with her huge smile and outfits. Sometimes she is a vampire, sometimes a member of the San Francisco Giants, a Fort Bragg Timberwolf, or sometimes a sweetheart or even a mobster.
Peterson delights everybody she meets at the Food Bank and it’s hard not to meet her.
Back in the “good old days” somebody like her would likely have never been seen, never gotten to share her art. Change comes. People need the Food Bank more now. Christmas is still a huge deal, as is the case most everywhere, despite the hyperbole seen on TV.
As with every Christmas there have been thrilling surprises for the Fort Bragg Food Bank. The list would be too long to include them all. Del Mar Montessori School showed up and donated 29 Christmas trees, which went immediately to families with children. The Coastal Mendocino Association of Realtors cut a check for $4,395 to the Food Bank just before Christmas.
One big surprise was when the Food Bank’s main truck was involved in a crash on Highway 20 earlier this month.
“The good news is that the truck repairs will be paid for by the other driver’s insurance,” said Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy.
“A guesstimate is $20,000 to $30,000 for the repairs and we don’t expect them to be completed until sometime in January. The challenge we’re facing now is how to beg, borrow or rent truck capacity to get us through until we’re back on the road. The insurance will pay for truck rental too, but we can’t readily rent a large refrigerated truck locally so for now we’re making do with a patchwork of other available trucks,” Severy said.
The Food Bank counts on stretching its dollars. For every $1 spent the Food Bank distributes $6.35 worth of food, Severy said. This includes all direct and indirect costs.
But the Food Bank has to get to Santa Rosa by truck to buy much of the incredibly cheap good food.
“Our weekly run to pick up food from the Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa is crucial for having adequate on-going food supplies for our clients. We’ve been tremendously fortunate that REFB delivered to us last week and will be delivering this week too,” said Severy.
“We will continue to use our Isuzu truck (which was donated to us by Harvest market) for our daily local food pickup runs to local stores. We can also possibly use it for some of our deliveries to food pantries around the county — but we’ll also have to rent trucks for some of these delivery runs when the Isuzu is busy doing something else. A bit of juggling, but it should all work out.”
Christmas week is one of the two most spectacular and crowded of the year. Every Food Bank client can get a regular week’s feeding plus the super spectacular ingredients for Christmas Dinner. This year they did something different, offering both meals on all three days before the Holiday. Suddenly half the town seems to be Food Bank clients.
There are long lines, presents for kids, visits by Santa and chief elf Nancy Milano, who came back again this year despite medical issues to wrap presents for kids. Christmas deliveries to the elderly, disabled and other clients who can’t make it to the Food Bank are happening this week at places like Moura Senior Housing.
The Christmas dinner features choice of a princely ham or turkey from 8 to 18 pounds, depending on the size of one’s family. Each client starts with a bag of canned foods, including stuffing, gravy, green beans or peas, yams, corn and cranberry sauce. Next comes cranberry juice, loaves of bread, big sweet potatoes, a head of celery, a bag of apples, a big bag full of potatoes and then, the turkey or ham. Truly spectacular.
Community generosity hits a peak during the holdays but can drop off right after.
“Just a reminder that we’re here serving clients all year ‘round and will continue to need the support of our wonderful community, especially during the ‘lean’ months of January-March. We are a rock bottom service to community members who are struggling — providing food weekly to local families. This helps make sure people are adequately nourished as they meet life’s challenges. It also helps relieve family budgets so other of life’s necessities can be met,” said Severy.
There is a change in how Season of Sharing is being administered this year. The Fort Bragg Advocate-News, The Mendocino Beacon and the Fort Bragg Food Bank would like to thank the Community Foundation of Mendocino County for its help in receiving and processing donations — and passing along 100 percent of the funds to the Food Bank — for the past decade and a half. Starting this year, donations can be made directly to the Food Bank. Please make checks out to the Fort Bragg Food Bank and put “Season of Sharing” on the memo line. Mail to Fort Bragg Food Bank, Post Office Box 70, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. Each week, the names of donors from the previous week will be printed in the newspapers unless the donor wishes to remain anonymous.
Last week’s donors to the Season of Sharing Program: Susan Larkin and Jim Ehlers, Mendocino Coast Gem and Mineral Society, Eagles Auxiliary 833, Fraternal Order of Eagles #833, Janice and Stephen Walker, Boyd and Kathryn Hight, Jill Surdzial, Craig Blencowe, Barbara Barkovich, Alice Einhorn, David Linkhart, Michael and Mary Schuh, Ronald and Susan Munson, and one Anonymous Donor, Total Donations from Dec. 13 to Dec. 21 are $ 12,025. Total donations to date are $17,360.
