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.