The old timers say nobody works hard in Fort Bragg anymore.
Some minds might change if they went on Tuesday with myself and Lance Nelson, head of the trucking fleet for the Fort Bragg Food Bank.
Six days a week Nelson, or Food Bank driver Joe Odegaard stop at Harvest Market and Safeway for a muscle-building adventure of loading culls and donations into one of two 20-foot cube vans the Food Bank operates.
At least once a week the truck also stops at Purity, Colombi Market, D”Aurelios, Thanksgiving Coffee, The Cookie Company, Mendocino Bakery, Corners of the Mouth, Harvest at Mendosa”s, Starbucks and Cafe Beaujolais.
Harvest and Safeway were action enough for me. I didn”t have my coffee before “jumping on the running boards” for this sunrise adventure. And I needed to be awake to stay in one piece. Safeway and Harvest employees were hustling along, pushing carts of food and, yes, working like there was no tomorrow. Yikes! Big semis whizzed by our truck behind both of the big local grocery stores.
Fortunately, everybody else seemed to have been at work several hours by 8 a.m. and were much more awake than I was.
I also was in good company with Nelson. He waved at every trucker and grocery employee, calling them by name and exchanging the speedy greetings of busy workers. (I knew about half of them too, to be fair.) Big lumbering Coca Cola and Dryers Ice Cream trucks moved in and out as if there was a tower somewhere directing traffic.
“It helps to get to know these guys, their routes and to work with them, not get in their way. They really appreciate the consideration,” said Nelson.
Nelson is a bridge between old Fort Bragg and those who strive for a more collaborative and local way of living.
He”s both.
“I fished from age 13 to 30. Man, things have changed … And we aren”t done yet,” Nelson said.
Like any fisherman worth his flounder, Nelson can tell great stories of the glory days of big catches. But I”ve also never yet seen him be negative or angry. Instead, he enjoys looking forward.
“I”ve really been blessed by this job, like nothing ever before. I can”t believe I”m starting on my fifth year here at the Food Bank. Time goes by so fast now,” said Nelson.
If you have ever volunteered or even visited the Food Bank, you know Nelson seems to be perpetually in motion. Working constantly, from stacking boxes to the roof to directing volunteers. When we arrived before 8 a.m, Nelson got a call from volunteer Yukie Holland, who was worried about the white beans she was soaking for lunch for the volunteers. Sure enough, the water was all gone. Nelson zipped over to the sink, removed some beans, filled the bowl with water and was headed back out to the truck before my digital camera was finished advertising its maker.
“We have a great group of volunteers and now some great -court assigned- workers,” said Nelson, who often finds the later group challenging. But they generally get into the giving spirit that invigorates Nelson and the rest of the crew every day.
Even the upbeat Nelson can”t deny darkening skies. Four years ago when I rode with then Food Bank trucker Earl House, the hauls from Harvest and Safeway were much, much larger.
On Tuesday morning, we didn”t even fill the floor of the truck, much less have to stack boxes on top of each other. Before, House and I had crammed that truck full.
“It used to be I went to Safeway, filled up and came back full, then went to Harvest and did the same,” said Nelson.
“Everybody is dealing with hard times right now. It”s a lot tougher now for us too.”
The food we got on Tuesday was clearly culls with a few overstocks. A smiling Safeway employee gave Nelson one piece of good news. A jar of strawberry jam had broken in shipping, covering its companions in a flat of a dozen jars with goo. The Food Bank rarely gets such treats and the mess brought smiles to both men.
The Safeway Bakery gave two grocery carts full of items, none of which appeared to be the least bit stale, but that was much less than the last time I went. Gleaners from Chico now fill the bread need that local groceries once covered, Nelson said.
At Harvest, we got some very interesting high end products, which likely could have been shipped back as overstock, but instead were donated. There was a huge pile of crisp apples from Harvest but most of the produce from both stores was marginal. Some stuff was past its expiration period. Nelson says there is a grace period, but the Food Bank has to work really fast nowadays.
“We will give all that produce away tomorrow. It takes a strong effort by everyone to cull out the bad and get the good out quickly,” Nelson said.
Nelson says demand is up and donations down for local soup kitchens, Hospitality House and the Food Bank.
The brightest spot is the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which keeps the warehouse full of staple commodities. This year, there was the Obama “stimulus chicken” which brightened up everybody at the Food Bank and may have contributed to increased demand this year. One chicken a month can make all the difference for Food Bank clients. The program paid farmers and processors for the chicken jobs, then donated the excess to food banks, but appears to be on the way out, as stimulus has become a bad word on TV news and in Washington, D.C.
The USDA staples are expected to continue but the Food Bank will need more support to keep up the same level of service. And every year, the crowd gets bigger.
“Our holiday distribution numbers were up considerably over last year,” said Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy, who didn”t have final figures yet. “We need people to keep those donations coming — large and small, all are needed.”
She thinks it can be done.
“Once again we are in awe of our community”s outpouring of generosity for the Food Bank. As I talk with friends and acquaintances, I realize almost all of us are no more than one or two degrees (sometimes even zero degrees!) of separation from someone close to us who is affected by the downturn in the economy. It seems this awareness makes people continue to dig deep in their pockets to help others, despite the financial uncertainty in their own lives,” said Severy.
Nelson and Odegaard, like John Henry, may have outworked the machinery.
A pressing need right now?
“We very much need a new fork lift that at least meets the specs of our current very elderly forklift,” said Severy.
Season of Sharing concludes
With this story, we conclude the newspapers” 2010 Season of Sharing fund drive for the Fort Bragg Food Bank.
“The generous response to Frank”s embedded” reporting has been truly heart-warming with $34,184 raised to help the Food Bank feed your neighbors, friends, co-workers — perhaps you — through 2011,” said Publisher Sharon DiMauro, who started the annual effort in 1995.
“Frank”s stories bring home the fact that hundreds of coast residents, and many pets, don”t have enough to eat. Without adequate nutrition, happiness and productivity can elude even the most determined man, woman or child. That”s why we”ve urged the community to support the Food Bank all these years.
“Once again, I thank the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, which administers donations at no charge, so every penny goes to the Food Bank.”
We thank the 2010 Season of Sharing donors whose contributions total $34,184: Winston and Rebecca Bowen, Charles Lee in memory of Jean, Mel and Susan McKinney, In memory of Nonie and Fred Grass, Cameron Fox, Patricia D. Campbell, Susan Hofberg, Dallas and Candace Gittins, David and Laura Welter, Janice Boyd, F. Ben and Nancy Housel, Michael and Jan Tolmasoff, Andrew Klacik, J.R. Harrison, Florence Simonson and Linda Perry, Janice and Stephen Walker, Michael and Ruth Dell”Ara, Marianne McGee, Ron and Susan Munson, Bronwyn and Robert Rhoades, George Egling, Myra and Joseph Figueiredo, Sharon Hansen, Barbara Barkowich, Jewels Marcus, Deborah A. Smith, Alice Einhorn, the Trinity Lutheran Church Hope Circle, Miriam Davis and Peter Keat, Myra Beals and Ida Matson, D. and C. Gittins, D”Ann Finley, Susan Larkin and James Ehlers, Mary Handelin, B. Boyd and Kathryn Hight, Linda Jupiter, Robert, Janice and Lindsay Ball, Bruce and Roslyn Moore, Patricia Sinkay in honor of Alice Ivec, Alice Gillespie, Alliance Support Partners, Inc., Charles and Linda Eyerly, Gin Paul Kremen, Michael and Mary Schuh, Jeanette Hansen, Robert and Mary Gerbi, Richard and Lillian Goodman, Frank and Shirley Collins, Margaret and Celeste Fox-Kump, Mabel and Mark Regalia, Craig and Megan Blencowe, Kit and Sandi Mosden, Susan McKinney in honor of Davis Pyorre”s 8th birthday, Jane Vartanian, Mendocino Coast Gem & Mineral Society, Fred and Muriel Morrow, Arnold and Terri Parks, Deborah L. and David Holmer, Joe Mickey and Connie Korbel, Dr. P.P. Coukoulis, Edwin and Theresa Branscomb, A.B. Priceman, Tom and Julee Estes, Olivia Barrager and 11 anonymous donors.
