Hunger won”t go away in 2007, but the Fort Bragg Food Bank will continue its efforts to educate the community and fill empty plates on the dinner tables of its clients, many of whom work and have families.
About 60 to 65 percent of Food Bank patrons are “the working poor,” according to Nancy Severy, executive director.
“There are a lot of families, not to mention seniors (about 20 percent of those who use the Food Bank),” she said. “A lot of seniors are regular folks who worked all their lives and don”t get enough to live on now.”
During the rest of the year, the level of hunger changes very little, except during the summer, when there are more jobs thanks to the tourism trade.
“We receive a steady stream of very welcome donations all year during the non-holiday months. These donations are very important in meeting our monthly budget. Of course we have a big spike of donations in the holiday months,” Severy said.
The need for donated items changes, in that the Food Bank doesn”t have to scramble for specialty items like cranberries and whole turkeys after the holidays.
“We are very grateful for healthy basic staple foods — for our food bags (canned or dried beans, rice, canned veggies and fruit, pasta, canned tuna, canned soups, etc). Of course, we always love to get fresh eggs, fruit and veggies from people”s yards and gardens — so we can offer some variety and fresh foods to our clients,” Severy said.
This year”s mystery giver of $10,000 will bless the Food Bank throughout the year. A total of $3,000 of that money was used at Harvest Market during the holidays, with the store cutting its margins to stretch the donated funds.
The Food Bank has some leftover turkeys in its freezer, which may be given to the Soup Kitchen. Currently, the Food Bank has a need for more donated rice and oatmeal, Severy said. The primary need the Food Bank has right now is for a steady supply of Ensure. Ensure is often a medical need of people with low appetite and low weight.
According to Severy, “We like to keep a small supply of the nutritional supplement Ensure on hand for folks with health problems who are trying to maintain weight.
“Donations of Ensure would be especially welcome. We often get requests from ill clients for this life-sustaining drink. We have people ask for it every week, and we don”t have a steady supply right now.”
The community has responded to needs of the Food Bank quickly, including a wish list published in the Advocate-News. The Food Bank got a new desk and file cabinet from that request and may be getting a shed from a local civic group.
Something new for the Food Bank this year is a $6,500 grant from FIRST 5 in Ukiah that Severy recently applied for.
This will enable the Food Bank to offer classes and educational materials designed to meet the nutritional needs of children from birth to 5 years of age (hence the name). Last year, the Food Bank held classes focusing on diabetes, also funded by a grant.
Funded by the passage of Prop. 10 in 1998, FIRST 5 Mendocino distributes this tobacco-tax revenue to benefit Mendocino County children, prenatal through the age of 5, and their families.
To date, FIRST 5 Mendocino has conducted four rounds of regional initiatives funding and two rounds of small grants funding. FIRST 5 Mendocino has awarded over $4 million in grants to fund over 75 projects serving Mendocino County”s young children and their families and another million dollars to childcare providers in the county through the CARES program. Additionally, FIRST 5 Mendocino supports initiatives such as Healthy Kids Mendocino, Early Mental Health, WEAVE/WISH Special Needs Project, Turn Off TV – Turn On Life Week, Safe from the Start, Pediatric Dental Unit, and School Readiness.
FIRST 5 Mendocino is governed by a nine-member commission. Currently, the commission is comprised of a member of the Board of Supervisors, the superintendent of schools, two county department heads, and five other members of the public. Commissioners usually meet on the fourth Monday of the month at the Mendocino County Office of Education, 2240 Old River Road in Ukiah. Meetings are video-conferenced to Fort Bragg. FIRST 5 can be reached at 462-4453.
Food Bank hours
The Food Bank office, located at 910 N. Franklin St., is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It is closed on Tuesday.
Food is given out on Monday and Friday from noon to 3 p.m., and on Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m., with a special time for seniors from 10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. all three days.
For more information, call 964-9404 or email foodbank@mcn.org.
How to help financially
Beginning in 1995, the Advocate-News and The Mendocino Beacon began sponsoring “Season of Sharing,” an annual community fund-raiser for the Fort Bragg Food Bank. The drive runs from the week before Thanksgiving through January, to help not only with holiday food bags, but to build the Food Bank”s reserves for the rest of the year.
Once again the Community Foundation of Mendocino County is administering the fund-raiser free of charge, enabling every penny of each tax-deductible donation 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 may 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.
This week”s update
Weekly updates on the total dollars raised appear in each issue, with the names of contributing individuals and businesses (unless they wish to remain anonymous) printed to keep the momentum going.
There were no additional donations this week, so the total remains at $9,064.
