2008 Holiday Season

There have been numerous articles in the media and I have been talking a lot these past few months about the declining donations of food from manufacturers as a result of the recession. The federal government is searching for ways to bail out banks, car companies and even State governments faced with deficits. All the while, layoffs are reaching 50 year highs moving more people down the economic ladder instead of up. 2008 is certainly going out in a less than cheerful manner and I suspect many will grudgingly welcome 2009 on New Year’s Day since the projections are that things will only get worse.
Here along the Gulf Coast we do have some positives we can look at instead of always focusing on the negatives in the gloomy economy. The weather has been warmer than usual this fall so we’ve barely needed our heaters, lower gas bills in spite of rate increases for natural gas. Home prices never soared into that stratosphere, (except those condos on the beach) so we don’t see them falling like other places, fewer homes in which people owe more than they are worth. Even if slowed by the economic decline, the German steel plant being constructed and military ship construction will help replace jobs being lost as long as people are willing to retrain. I think many here will look at 2009 with the idea that they want it to come quickly so we can move past this down turn and get on with moving up the economic ladder.
So how does all this relate to the Food Bank and our mission of helping people? Well, 2008 has been a tough year. We’ve had a lot of media attention which has kept our phones busy with people seeking to find help. We’ve had a big decline in donated shelf stable food from national manufacturers which has caused us to reach out farther away for donations and pay higher freight costs to get it here. We’ve also had to change our expectations about national donations and shift to a stronger focus on local support through a store level pick-up effort. Store level pick-up is much harder and more expensive. Instead of 40,000 pounds arriving via tractor trailer in cases on shrink wrapped pallets, our drivers must make 70 to 80 stops at individual stores to pick-up 500 or 600 pounds of food of various types. That means this year we’ve spent a lot more money getting the same amount of donated food we got in 2007 and the warehouse staff and volunteers worked a lot harder as well.
People in the community are helping. We’ve had more food drives than ever thanks to concern from individuals, social groups and businesses. We’ve had a lot of media coverage with TV, radio and newspaper reporters taking an interest in learning about the challenges of helping people when times turn tough. And, thank goodness, individuals are helping with cash donations since many of the foundations who often provide support to non-profit organizations have seen revenue from their invested funds evaporate this year. As I look at 2009, I see a year that is going to continue to require growth of our store level donation effort and tightening of the budget belt to squeeze the most help we can provide as more families move down the economic ladder, hanging on until the economy turns around.