The burly delivery truck driver moved a linebacker on the blitz play. In the time it took me to load a grocery cart onto the Fort Bragg Food Bank truck”s lift, this driver has unloaded a gigantic cart full of fluffy packaged white bread? and wrangled it into Safeway; he left at a fast jog.
Over the past five years of writing the Season of Sharing stories, I”ve seen people and businesses come and go, while the grocery business moves at a steady, if frenetic speed. Local grocers create a bigger economy than we see in the stores and they are always among the most generous givers to the Food Bank.
“Every morning [except Sunday] our drivers go to Safeway and Harvest Market. They also go at least weekly to: D”Aurelio”s, Purity Market, Colombi”s, Starbucks, the Cookie Company, Thanksgiving Coffee, Harvest Market at Mendosa”s, Corners of the Mouth, Cafe Beaujolais and the Mendocino Bakery,” said Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy.
“All these food-related establishments donate a wonderful variety of foods that are approaching the best-if-sold-by date, but that are still in good condition. We receive around 25 percent of all the food we distribute from this local source. Wow we are grateful!” she said.
While Harvest and Safeway give the vast majority of the food, clients wait for special treats. About 30 pounds of coveted Thanksgiving Coffee comes in per week. Cafe Beaujolais gives lots of gourmet breads. Many clients search for that special bread even if it is old enough to need freshening in the microwave.
Fort Bragg Food Bank driver Doug Duncan and I get three 20-gallon bags of fresh pizza dough from D”Aurelio”s. Repackaged by the Food Bank into smaller bags, the crust gets eagerly chosen by hundreds of clients in the food line, which offers a half-dozen either-or-choices.
The route has added a few stops over the years. The Food Bank itself has grown a lot and expanded its mission to include anything and everything clients need for free. The Food Bank has installed a potable water spigot, had a portable toilet put out front and offered giveaways of furniture. One new weekly stop is at the new Paul Bunyan Thrift Store, where half a truck of clothes are redonated. “These are really good clothes, many designer labels and in great shape,” said Duncan.
Duncan is usually the kind of guy one can”t walk past without smiling. Those who try are likely to get a generous greeting, a joke or at least a big smile. Most people smile proactively when they see Duncan coming.
Last year, Duncan and I had all the elderly and mostly female residents of local senior housing laughing, joking and shaking their heads as we delivered massive Christmas turkey baskets.
As I followed Duncan on his morning pickup route on Monday through Harvest and Safeway, folks smiled or gave him a big greeting, not noticing he was missing his usual smile. His wife has been in the hospital for more than a week, battling a still dangerous infection.
“We are very fortunate to have the life we have here. Right now, it”s just our turn to take a hit,” he said.
At Safeway, Aaron Giannini and I finally manage to drag Duncan into a little joviality. Duncan and I then get a little laugh of some of the items donated by the big grocer, an unclaimed three-foot-wide birthday cake and boxes of “Martha Wrap” featuring a picture of Martha, who somehow must have seemed less desirable than old man “Reynolds.”
As we chugged about in the 20-foot bobtail truck, perhaps the biggest change at the Food Bank is that two big trucks are now in nearly constant use.
“Every week we go down to the Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa. This food bank is a regional hub, serving several counties including Mendocino, Sonoma, Lake and Humboldt. With our wonderful new truck we can pick up 9,000 pounds of food from there each week,” said Severy.
The new truck, purchased last year with community donations carries nearly twice as much as the old one, meaning dollars go further now.
“Due to the operating efficiencies allowed by the higher payload and good fuel mileage, our per-pound food transport costs have dropped considerably,” Severy said.
The two-truck fleet has allowed the Fort Bragg Food Bank to share its bounty even beyond the Coast.
“Once each month we deliver USDA Commodities to smaller food pantries in Ukiah, Willits, Gualala, Point Arena, Anderson Valley, Leggett, Laytonville and Round Valley, as well as to soup kitchens in Fort Bragg, Ukiah and Willits. We also provide food to Hospitality House and to Primary Purpose [in Albion],” Severy said.
Along our “salvage” route is a woman who used to live on the streets and frequent the Food Bank. The nonprofit I lead, MendoPower Employment Services, employed her for temporary work. Now she works full-time, has a home and is never seen at the Food Bank, but I always get a smile.
Another former temporary worker and food banker showed up recently on drugs, teeth missing, and frightening those who tried to help. Duncan and I discuss the ups and downs we see and feel as we drive down Franklin. Behind Rite Aid an apparently homeless man with an I-Pod is jamming, with legs and arms churning at different speeds in a compelling rhythm.
“I”d like to think that is pure happiness in the moment,” I say.
“He is a one-man rock concert,” observes Duncan.
Those who don”t try to hide the truth do better, we agree. He tells me how his wife, Debbie Duncan, had to have her prosthetic knee removed when the infection spread there.
“It”s rough, it”s really rough,” he said.
I tell him the matter can be kept out of the article for privacy”s sake.
“No, I think telling the story is a good thing.” He says their church family and the Food Bank family are helping the couple make it through. Those I”ve seen make it out of painful poverty often give credit to community-wide efforts available here.
“Debbie had colon cancer a few years ago and the doctors didn”t give her much of a chance. But the prayer warriors we know went to work and she got entirely better.”
Season of Sharing
Since the 1996 holiday season, the Advocate-News and The Mendocino Beacon have raised roughly $ 284,000 through the “Season of Sharing fundraiser every cent taken in by the newspapers goes to the Food Bank.
“The Food Bank addresses the most basic problem facing hundreds of individuals and families hunger,” said Publisher Sharon DiMauro. ” The goal is to give the Food Bank money it can use year-round, not just during the holidays.”
Checks should be written out to The Mendocino County Community Foundation. Mail them to the Advocate-News at P.O. Box 1188, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 or bring them to the newspaper office, located at 450 N. Franklin St., Fort Bragg, just north of City Hall.
The fundraiser runs through December 31. The names of all donors who contribute through the newspapers will be printed each week, unless they request to remain anonymous. If you have any questions, please call us at 964-5642.
This week”s donations come from Jane Vartanian, D. Pyorre, Dr. P.P. Coukoulis, Janice and Robert Ball, Roderick and Kathleen Cameron, Linda Jupiter, and the Mendocino Coast Gem & Mineral Society. Donations to date total $1, 560.
