Every year for nearly a decade, I have written seven or eight articles profiling the food, the people and the spending of the Fort Bragg Food Bank as part of our newspaper’s annual Season of Sharing effort. We always find a lot of interesting tales, from generous volunteers to inspiring clients to the sad death of a homeless man named Sundance who was sleeping outside just down the street.
How do we do it? The answer is one of the best and oldest journalism axioms: “Everyone has a story to tell and people are waiting to read that story.” It’s the people we
meet who actually tell the stories.
To challenge the truism, I promised to feature the first person I did not know that I ran into. I rent the warehouse next door to The Food Bank now, so it’s a short walk. That person turned out to be Maribel Andrade, who was loading her car with her spouse and four children. The family was the picture of fast yet focused motion. The parents and kids (4, 12, and 16) worked very fast to fit the newly acquired food into the car, while an angelic 2-year-old girl sat in the car seat. They were clearly going somewhere for school and were in a hurry, so I didn’t want to take too much time away from the loading operation.
I had not seen this family at the Food Bank before. Latino people use the Fort Bragg Food Bank in lower percentages than the other significant local ethnic group- Caucasians. Just ten percent of Food Bank clients are Latino/Hispanic. People of Hispanic origin comprise 32 percent of the population in Fort Bragg.
For the Andrade clan, I would be surprised to see them for very long at the Food Bank. I’ve seen over the years how the Food Bank gives people just the little help they need on the route to upward mobility. The family had clearly picked out their food as a joyous group and were happy to get it. The kids had selected some favorites and so had mom.
“I’m going to make sure they eat some broccoli,” she said, smiling big. The rest of the family wasn’t so eager to eat the healthy green delight. I was happy. Not about the broccoli but because this family would make a great story. They were very polite and were willing to talk, but I could see from the kids they really were in a hurry to get somewhere. No worries. We will meet more great two-legged stories as the year goes on.
Not surprisingly the biggest day of the Fort Bragg Food Bank year is Thanksgiving, which comes with the biggest need for giving. The idea is to give everyone who wants it a real down home Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner every year.
Lots of people love this effort, which is good because lots of volunteers are needed during the week before the big holidays in particular. So come and volunteer at the Food Bank on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving or the holiday distribution day before Christmas. The turkey or other main dish is just the start to the two grand meals. There is every kind of fresh vegetables and trimmings to make that dinner complete.
There are several ways to give now for Thanksgiving. Buy a turkey at Harvest Market and the grocery will donate it for you. Or, buy a turkey wherever you shop, and bring it to the Food Bank at 910 N. Franklin St. on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. There is also the annual Turkey Challenge. Your donation of $200 or more for holiday turkeys will be matched by the following local businesses: Just write “Turkey Challenge” on your check and mail it to the Fort Bragg Food Bank at PO Box 70, Fort Bragg CA 95437.
– Hawthorne Timber Co.
– Mendocino Coast European Auto
– Fort Bragg Realty — Century 21
– Savings Bank of Mendocino County
– Team Insurance and Financial Services
– Pacific Gas & Electric
The special distribution hours for Thanksgiving are:
Monday, Nov. 23. Normal Distribution Day — Regular Hours
Tuesday, Nov. 24. Holiday Distribution: 9 a.m. Seniors only to start. After all seniors have gone through the line all eligible clients will be welcome. The distribution stops
at 3 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 25: Holiday Distribution— All Ages: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
We start this year’s series with some very good news. “Our 2015 number of clients served is down slightly from 2014. It looks like we may finish the year only slightly above the pre-Great Recession numbers — which is great news if it continues this way,” said Nancy Severy, executive director. This local decline in poverty is not surprising based on the California economy, rising jobs and a balanced state budget.
There are signs that the crash of 2008 is finally history. There are also plenty of signs that the widening gap between rich and poor is becoming a fixed reality here in our town, as well as across America. What opportunities do families like Andrade’s really have to live the American dream? What are the changing needs for services in 2015? More on how the Food Bank is adopting to changing social dynamics as we go along.
“We serve approximately 900 client households each month at the Fort Bragg Food Bank, representing approximately 1,300 household members. Clients can visit as often as once a week and we service approximately 2,000 client visits each month,” Severy said.
There is a change in how Season of Sharing is being administered this year. The Fort Bragg Advocate-News, The Mendocino Beacon and the Fort Bragg Food Bank would like to thank the Community Foundation of Mendocino County for its help in receiving and processing donations — and passing along 100 percent of the funds to the Food Bank — for the past decade and a half. Starting this year, donations can be made directly to the Food Bank. Please make checks out to the Fort Bragg Food Bank and put “Season of Sharing” on the memo line. Mail to Fort Bragg Food Bank, Post Office Box 70, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. Each week, the names of donors from the previous week will be printed in the newspapers unless the donor wishes to remain anonymous.
