January 2007 update

2006 is over and we’re off to a new, exciting start in 2007. We’re hoping for another quiet storm season along the gulf coast this summer and have set a goal of distributing 10 million pounds of food this year. 2005 saw us distribute over 16 million pounds and 2006 over 13 million pounds as a result of continued hurricane recovery support. Prior to 2005 we were moving from 4 million pounds of distribution prior to our 2000 move to our new warehouse, towards 10 million pounds of non-storm related distribution. The 10 million pound goal will be a challenge for us. Budgets for government commodities programs are expected to be flat while the price of food has increased so we’ll get less food through the government programs. This means we’ll depend more than ever on the major national donations provided through America’s Second Harvest-The Nation’s Food Bank Network while expanding our search for locally available food now being thrown away at grocers or food distributors. To meet this challenge we’re moving one employee to search for new food donations full time. We’ll also seek out well priced wholesale key nutritional items that may not be present in the donated product and purchase those food items. The purchased program requires thousands of additional dollars annually but is important in maintaining a healthy diet.

We are also going to increase our focus on nutrition this year by adding senior nutrition initiatives to our existing child nutrition efforts. Our 2005 Hunger Study indicates a significant number of seniors and children receive food through our programs and for them, decisions between paying rent, utilities and medicine versus purchasing food are common. Yet, a healthy diet improves mental and physical growth while decreasing the need for medical care. By increasing our senior nutrition knowledge we plan to target our food collection and distribution to be as effective as possible at keeping seniors healthier so their quality of life can improve even on fixed incomes. We’ll also seek funds to create a food box program targeted towards seniors similar to the Federal Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). The CSFP program is not fully funded so it is provided in only a limited number of States, Alabama and Florida are among the unfunded States. We estimate that senior food program will cost $7.00 per box, so for 120 seniors to receive a box each month for a year, we will need a little over $10,000.
The Food Bank is all about helping people. We expect 2007 to be no different and will work to do it cost effectively so more can be helped.

December 2006 Update

It is already halfway through the month and I am just getting around to posting my December blog. That’s pretty normal for this time of year. The Food Bank runs all operations on a calendar year so along with the Holidays, we have a new set of Board Members to orient on their responsibilities, establishment of goals for the coming year and development of a budget that will support the goals. At the same time, we have a number of organizations who invite us to functions to present donation checks as well as TV and radio interviews to talk about how things are during the holiday season. In short, it is just plain busy.

Of course 2006 is a lot quieter than 2004 (post Ivan) and 2005 (post Katrina) but sadly, there remains a lot of support to be done for the thousands still out of their homes on the Gulf Coast and those in their homes but facing cost increases at a pace much more rapid than wage increases. We still end November of this year with over 1 million pounds of food distributed for the month. I’ve got some of the staff reviewing the costs of maintaining a young family in Pensacola, Foley, Mobile, Gulfport and some of the smaller rural communities to try and capture information on when a family stops struggling to make ends meet. It certainly is not when eligibility for Food Stamps ends. We intend to focus on that next year to help us better understand and inform the organizations we work with some all of us can help more.

We have also been busy focusing on future disasters. Dave Krepcho of the Orlando Food Bank, Mike Manning of the Baton Rouge Food Bank and 10 other food banks across the nation are working on a new disaster manual with America’s Second Harvest- The Nation’s Food Bank Network staff members. We have now met three times and conducted numerous teleconferences as part of an effort to gain from recent disaster recovery experience in planning for future relief work. All of the Food Bank representatives have supported relief operations in the past ranging from hurricanes to floods to fires and we’re trying to create a flexible plan that rapidly supports an area without cumbersome rules. Traveling to Chicago for 12 hours of meetings and then back home is not a lot of fun, but I think it helps us stay focused on the effort and interested in doing a good job.

That’s it for now, I hope all of you have a chance to be with family and enjoy the Christmas holiday before it is time to get back in the swing of things for 2007!