Lorain County’s Second Harvest Food Bank is looking for help this holiday season to make sure that it can keep up the giving spirit throughout the year.

By the end of this year, Second Harvest expects to have distributed close to 4 million pounds of food to agencies in Lorain, Erie, Huron, and Crawford counties, up from last year’s 3.4 million pounds.

“And we could distribute more, if we could get our hands on more,” said Juliana Chase-Morefield, executive director of Second Harvest.

From 2006 to 2007, distribution increased by just 6 percent.

Second Harvest and its member agencies provide help to anyone in the area who makes less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

The number of people in this category seems to be growing, according to Chase-Morefield.

“One thing the agencies are saying is that they are seeing more people they would not traditionally see,” she said. “These people are out of work and have never been on food stamps or received government assistance.”

In Lorain County, Second Harvest has distributed an average of 25,000 pounds of food per month this year to area food pantries, shelters, and programs. In 2004, the average was 10,000 pounds per month.

“There’s so much demand out there,” Chase-Morefield said.

Donations are keeping up with need, but barely, Chase-Morefield said.

“We’re seeing the same number of donors, if not more,” Chase-Morefield said. “But maybe the donations aren’t what they were.”

Dwindling cash flow is depleting the food bank’s reserves.

“At the beginning of October, we had less food in our warehouse than we’ve ever had,” she said. “We usually have 300,000 pounds, but then we had only 200,000. We got a little nervous.”

To make up the deficit, Second Harvest staff got on the phones and called out to other food banks for help.

They were not disappointed.

“We received more in October than we’ve ever received in one month,” Chase-Morefield said. “I hope we can do it again.”

But if the economic woes affecting Lorain County spread to the areas that are currently better off, Chase-Morefield isn’t sure those agencies that helped out will be able to again.

“We need to raise enough money to keep the food bank going through Christmas, and also to restock in January,” Chase-Morefield said. “Hunger is a year-round problem.”

Second Harvest uses its holiday campaign to raise most of the private funds it uses throughout the year. Money also comes from federal funding and the national Second Harvest organization, and several food companies and grocery stores donate their excess nonperishable stock.

The food bank prefers monetary contributions, which it can use to purchase food in greater quantities through bulk rates and discounts, or time volunteered packing food. Food donations are also welcome.

In all, Second Harvest looks to raise $200,000 to $300,000 each year to fill out its $1.3 million budget.

“It’s a pretty significant amount of money,” Chase-Morefield said. “And, of course, we can’t pass on our costs to our agencies.”

One of those agencies is Boys and Girls Clubs of Lorain County, which relies on Second Harvest for its BackPack program.

“If we don’t have the food, it affects a lot of families in a lot of ways,” said food director Renee Gill. “On a daily basis, we see kids who are so hungry and families who are so hungry.”

Each week, the organization passes out 460 “weekend survival kits” to its members, allowing the kids to have three square meals a day while they’re not at school.

“There’s no way we could do it without the assistance of Second Harvest,” Gill said.

Contact Alison Dietz at 329-7128 or adietz@chroniclet.com.

 

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---