Ever wonder what happens to that carton of eggs in the grocery store with the one cracked egg in it?
Many end up at the Fort Bragg Food Bank, where Marie Rusert sorts out the good from the bad and repacks them into the half cartons the Food Bank gives away.
Despite celebrating her 94th birthday this week by helping in the office at the Food Bank, volunteer Rusert, aka “the egg lady,” is known for her sharp eye in the egg repacking process.
“She is very patient and washes each egg,” said Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy.
The Food Bank now gets donations from Harvest, Safeway and Purity markets, along with many smaller businesses.
“I have been coming here to volunteer for about 10 years, since we moved up from the Bay Area,” Rusert said.
“The Food Bank provides a terrific service.”
The Food Bank has some good news and some worrisome news as 2010 gets rolling.
While use of the Food Bank usually slows down a bit after the holidays, there has been not much easing this year.
“We are getting more people. We were shocked at some of the numbers coming in during January,” said Severy.
January days that had between 400-500 clients last year, averaged between 500-600 clients served this year. Days with between 500-600 clients served had more than 600 this year.
“It”s like it has shifted upwards,” said Severy.
The good news is the Food Bank is in the black thanks to $23,000 raised from the newspapers” Season of Sharing.
Season of Sharing funds help the Food Bank buy food through the year, not just during the holidays.
In addition, a $30,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation will help fund a new roof for the tin metal industrial warehouse on North Franklin Street that the Food Bank calls home.
The Food Bank has a new volunteer coordinator, Amanda Friscia, who helps integrate the large number of volunteers with three full-time employees.
“She is doing very well, she”s really organized and we are very glad to have her,” said Severy.
The Food Bank food counter is barer and there are more people on the other side every day, seeking the smaller selection. Still, when I got a bag of groceries with the clients as part of doing this final story, I got a lot of nutritional and caloric bang for my non-buck.
There were pork patties donated by the USDA, boxes of cereal, organic yogurt and cottage cheese and some fairly sad produce.
What can people do to help this time of year?
“If someone wanted to buy a bag of groceries and drop it off, that would be very appreciated,” said Severy.
“And it goes without saying money is always needed. We are able to stretch the donations we get by buying in larger quantities and by sending the truck to [a food bank in] Santa Rosa, where we get the most food,” she said.
