North Texas Food Bank

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Demand straining food bank

Children and adults alike would face hunger on a daily basis if it weren't for the North Texas Food Bank.

"Research shows that hungry children have poorer mental health and overall health, miss more days of school, suffer greater rates of behavioral disorders and are less prepared to learn when they are in school," said Jan Pruitt, the food bank's chief executive.

"The North Texas Food Bank's End Childhood Hunger Opportunities supports three major children's feeding programs: Food 4 Kids, Kids Cafe and Summer Food Service.

"Each $1 donated provides one healthy, nutritious meal for a child in one of these programs."

Chief executive Jan Pruitt (center) and volunteers Mike Snider and Shirley Nealy work with the North Texas Food Bank to help the hungry. Demand for food from the agencies the bank serves is up 17 percent, but donations have not kept up.

Food 4 Kids, Ms. Pruitt explained, supplies schools with nutritious, kid-friendly, self-serve food that can fill a backpack and feed a child over the weekend during the school year.

"Children identified by school personnel as being at risk of hunger receive approximately four pounds of food in their backpacks each Friday," Ms. Pruitt said. "On Monday, children return the empty backpacks, and they are refilled for the next Friday."

The food bank plans to distribute backpacks to 4,500 children in 180 schools by the end of the 2007-08 school year.

Kids Cafe provides nutritious evening meals to children who participate in their school's breakfast and lunch programs.

Kids Cafe is the most expansive child-feeding program in the nation. Last year, the food bank's 28 Kids Cafe sites handed out 3,800 meals to more than 2,000 children each week.

The Summer Food Service Program offers children in low-income areas nutritious meals during summer vacations.

Misconceptions

Ms. Pruitt says many people have misconceptions about who goes hungry in this country.

"While we serve shelters and soup kitchens that serve primarily the homeless, the majority of those who face hunger are the working poor," she said.

She is also incensed at the White House's proposal – for the third year in a row – to cut the Commodity Supplemental Food Program from the budget.

CSFP helps people over 60 years old, pregnant women and children up to 6 years old who are not in the government's supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children.

Dallas County is one of only three areas in the state that has CSFP, and the North Texas Food Bank helps 7,300 people each month through the program, mostly seniors.

"We have 103 distributing sites. Without federal funding, we will not be able to help as many people," Ms. Pruitt said.

Two years ago, the "White House zeroed out" the item in the budget, Ms. Pruitt said, and although advocates in Congress successfully reinstated it, "it didn't come back at the same level as the original proposal, and we had to cut 1,100 seniors here."

Last year, proponents successfully reinstated the full amount, but the latest budget also recommends that CSFP be dropped.

Ms. Pruitt says she's confident that proponents will save the program again.

Meanwhile, "food demand from our member agencies is up 17 percent while food donations are up only 8 percent, leaving a 9 percent gap," which translates to 1.3 million pounds of food.

To close this gap, North Texas Food Bank spent 55 percent more on food purchases ($499,000) and freight ($47,000) during the last six months of 2007 than it had the year before.

If distribution continues at this pace, the food bank's purchasing budget will be spent by the end of this month.

The history

The North Texas Food Bank was founded in 1982 by Liz Minyard, then with her family's grocery chain; Kathryn Hall, then with Safeway; Jo Curtis, an agriculture extension agent; and Lorraine Griffin Kircher, a social worker.

The latter two saw the hunger in the community and wanted to do something about it, so they joined forces with Ms. Minyard and Ms. Hall, Ms Pruitt said.

Since 1982, the food bank has distributed 362 million pounds of food in a 13-county area.

Last year, the food bank finished a $4.4 million renovation that enabled it to distribute 50 percent more food each month,

In 2007, member agency pantries distributed food to more than 43,000 families, and on-site meal programs served more than 410,000 meals and snacks.

In 2006, the food bank was No. 8 among more than 200 America's Second Harvest food banks around the nation for pounds distributed.

From the beginning, area retail grocers have been the major donors of free food to the North Texas Food Bank.

A few years ago, Louise Gartner, who founded Page Boy maternity with her sisters, raised food collections "to the next level" by persuading grocers to contribute their produce in addition to food in cans or boxes, Ms. Pruitt said.

"Louise cited the nutritious benefits of produce in the diets. It was a new day at the food bank."

Ms. Pruitt also notes that many people don't go to get food stamps. "First, they go to their faith-based organizations. Not surprising, 73 percent of our institutions that we supply are faith-based."

How to give

Ms. Pruitt is especially proud of her operation's efficiency.

"For every dollar donated, the NTFB is able to provide five meals, and for every dollar donated, 97 cents is used to feed hungry North Texas families."

Ms. Pruitt says there are five ways you can contribute:

1. "Give your voice. Hunger affects everyone in our community. Learn how and tell others.

2. "Give an hour. We've got a variety of volunteer opportunities and options.

3. "Give a pound. Host traditional and virtual food drives through your work, faith, school or civic group.

4. "Give a dollar. We can take your $1 and distribute $10 worth of food.

5. "Strengthen your team. Consider our team-building program for the greater good: serving-u.org."

For more information, go to ntfb.org, write the North Texas Food Bank at 4500 S. Cockrell Hill Road, Dallas, Texas 75236-2028 or call 214-330-1396.

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