BANK CRISIS

"Demand for food-bank assistance is climbing rapidly"

Economists are concerned about the future of the US economy, and while the legacy media does its able best to talk down consumer confidence and perception, there are some valid concerns about what's coming. Banks in particular are in trouble; not banks with money, but food banks.

With the price of food going up so rapidly (have you priced eggs lately?), people are less inclined to buy a few extra cans of food to give to the local food bank. This means that your local food bank that helps out needy people with basic, wholesome food is having troubles keeping its shelves stocked and ready for helping others. Food banks are getting it from both sides: they are also facing increased demand.

Rising gas and utility prices are stressing people who live on the edge of trouble and small changes, and the food prices push this even further. To make matters worse, with the slowdown in the housing industry, jobs like cabinet making, construction, and other seasonal work are not hiring like they have, or are hiring more slowly, which means that people might do without work longer. Add to that the cold weather which has made landscaping, farming, roofing, and other jobs delayed, and you've got an economy where more people need a little assistance.

Food banks are primarily volunteer driven, the food they distribute is from government commodity surplus (government cheese, for instance), corporate donations (mislabeled cans, etc), and individual donors. The rising commodity prices have caused there to be less surplus for food banks, and the businesses that moved overseas aren't donating food that they used to - canneries, in particular.

I spoke to Phil McCarkle (a fine Irish name) at the Marion and Polk County Food Share and he pointed out a few facts, along with some from their website:

• Most food comes from a goodly distance these days; on average, food travels 1400 miles to your local store (this averages out food traveling overseas with food you get from local packing plants such as potato chips and beverages).
• Food costs rose a national average of 5.1% last year
• Food banks originally started in 1965 with the Johnson "War on Poverty" which had legislation establishing the legal rules and tax benefits for donations to food banks
• In 1980, President Reagan released food subsidy surplus to the public (the origin of the government cheese jokes), greatly assisting food banks.

According to the Wall Street Journal, food banks nationwide are feeling the pinch, such as the local Silverton food bank which has seen a 35% increase in demand for food and overall in Marion and Polk counties the demand has gone up 14% overall for food boxes. In Marion County alone, over five thousand food boxes went out last month, and that's in an area with a population of about 385,000 people. 44% of those assisted are children; each food box is for a family.

Your local food bank can use your help; they are noticing the same problems you are, but are helping the most needy until they can get back on their feet. Check out any local church or charity, chances are they will take food to help with this effort. You can donate money and time, as well.

The Marion-Polk County Food Share has begun looking into new ideas, such as taking fallow county land near the prisons and turning it into farms; local farmers are volunteering labor and fertilizer, local canning companies are harvesting and canning the food, donating the generic-level product to the food banks. It's ideas like this that help meet the need without demanding government money that we all can support. For years now the local movie theaters have had a yearly "Canned Film Festival" where the price of a ticket is one can of food, this tends to bring in quite a bit of goods for the food banks.

Next time you go shopping, consider getting a few non perishable, healthy items and donating them, we can all pitch in to help out our neighbor; that's not just a good idea, its the right thing to do.

*UPDATE Phil McCorkle emailed me with some corrections and information; the average price of food went up 5.1%, not 6% as I originally posted. He also pointed out that helping out with your local food bank need not be a significant chuck of your paycheck: ten dollars will buy a food box for a family, feeding them 3-5 days.

Charity, Food Bank, Economy