The smiling Latina woman told me how the Wall Street crisis is being felt by people who never had stock or any real money to lose.
“I have a set amount of money every month from Social Security. Now some things I need cost a lot more. Prices go up and down, and I don”t know what is next,” she said.
Wearing a clean, old-fashioned dress, she was very helpful until I asked for her name the second time.
“Never. I will never have my name in the paper for coming here,” she said, her face darkening.
Nearby Naomi Campbell-Ware was organizing clothing which is free for the taking by Fort Bragg Food Bank clients.
“You can use my name in the paper,” she said. “This place does me and other people in this community so much good that I want everybody to know.”
On a day when clients lined up down the block, it was hard to find others who wanted to talk on the record.
While the census shows that many Latino people qualify for the Food Bank, many are too proud to use it, a Latino man I know told me.
“That may change for a lot of people,” he said.
But not yet for him. I have seen a lot more clients I recognize this year than last, people from Chamber of Commerce mixers and First Friday Art Walks, but most don”t want to give their names. Some won”t even stop to talk.
“I see a lot of people this year who told me they would never, ever be seen at the Food Bank,” said Campbell-Ware.
The biggest shopping day of the year at the Fort Bragg Food Bank has traditionally been the day before Thanksgiving, not the day after.
I spoke to a dozen people on Monday, a day that long-time Food Bank employee Jean Jones thought was the busiest Monday ever.
Because of the rush to get the delicious baskets of full turkey dinners, the Food Bank divided up the turkey dinner days this year, with seniors getting their turkeys on Tuesday and other clients lining up on Wednesday.
The dinners include sweet potatoes, onions, celery, breads, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, green beans, yams and corn.
Local businessman Dwain Ray”s “Ton of Turkeys” challenge has been one of the key promotional efforts to benefit the Food Bank over the past several years, successfully providing at least 1,200 turkey dinners at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Carpet cleaner Ray has again teamed up this year with roofer Richard McDonald in the effort.
This year feels different from any other year to Food Bank clients. There is more fear, and everybody was sure that the number of clients is way up.
The impression that seems so obvious actually isn”t true, Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy said. Numbers of clients are up about 5 percent. But everyone agrees that an entirely different grade of client is now using the Food Bank.
“A lot of people have lost a lot of money and have seen their whole world change,” Campbell-Ware said.
For the first time her family won”t get to travel to be together for the holidays.
“There is just less money for everything,” she said.
Several clients unwilling to give their names wanted to say that they have learned how critical this particular non-profit is.
“I”m amazed that they never run out of good food here, with so many people needing the food,” Campbell-Ware said.
Food Bank history
The idea of the Food Bank originated at a time when economic conditions weren”t so dire or the need so great.
The Food Bank was started in 1979 by a group of local women, many of whom are still active in community activities. They worked with others in Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake and Mendocino counties to establish a Food Stamp outreach program.
The Fort Bragg group raised funds and managed the Greenwood Trucking Co. to buy food in large quantities for distribution through a co-op store. Funding for this program came from North Coast Opportunities and CETA, along with donated space at 650 N. Main St. in Fort Bragg.
Mendocino-Lake Food and Nutrition Program became a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in March 1979, while at this location. Its objective was to distribute food and improve the nutrition of the needy. A popular Food Bank cookbook was developed.
In June 1981, the program moved offices to 242 N. Harrison St. where it shared space with the CARE Project. Soon, though, it had to move on due to the availability of more commodities under the Temporary Emergency Food Aid Program and the corresponding need for more space.
In June 1982, it moved to 360 N. Corry St. A small storage shed became an office, and the program came to be known as the Food Bank. It soon outgrew that site and in 1984 moved again to 900 N. Franklin St. At this location it was designated the commodities distribution center for Mendocino County.
The Food Bank had ceased having any connection with Lake County, and so in 1988 the program became officially the Mendocino Food & Nutrition Program, Inc. In May 1993, the Food Bank moved into its permanent home at 910 N. Franklin St.
The Fort Bragg Food Bank is open every weekday but Tuesday. There are special senior hours Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. The Food Bank is open from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays, a time designed for working people.
Season of Sharing
The goal of the Advocate-News and Mendocino Beacon”s annual Season of Sharing fund drive is to raise a substantial chunk of money that the Food Bank can draw on year-round, not just during the holidays when donations tend to flow most freely. This year”s target is $40,000. Last year the community donated $37,214.15.
The Community Foundation of Mendocino County administers the Season of Sharing free of charge as a courtesy to the newspapers, so every cent goes to 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, or you”re welcome to bring them to the newspaper office, located at 450 N. Franklin St.
If you have any questions about the fund drive, call the newspapers at 964-5642. The fund-raiser runs through Dec. 31.
Donors” names are printed each week, unless they ask to remain anonymous.
The 2008 drive is off to a healthy start with $4,135 donated in the past week by Janice Boyd, Patricia Frobes, Richard Smith and three anonymous donors.
