Food banks deal in the currency of hope

Published 4:59 am Thursday, April 19, 2012

We all need food. Most of us have enough; some of us dont. Close to home, an amazing buzz of activity is in place as people from all walks of life do their best to see that if they can help it, no one will go hungry.

In Oregons 36 counties, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, we are a population just shy of 3,900,000. In 28 of those counties, somewhere between 50 percent and 80 percent of public school kids are eligible for the national free or reduced school lunch program. Get ready for this one: Oregon ranks No. 1 nationally for childhood hunger and comes in at No. 2 for overall, across-the-board hunger.

In Clatsop County, with just fewer than 38,000 people, approximately 50 percent of all school kids are eligible for the free or reduced school lunch program. More than 13 percent of residents, whatever their ages, live in poverty. Across the Astoria Bridge, Washingtons Pacific County has a population of around 21,000, and of those, one in five people of all ages are food insecure thats about 4,500 residents, according to Washingtons Food Lifeline website. Its hard to fathom these numbers unless its happening at your house or youre involved in a hunger relief program.

Theyre disheartening figures and facts, but here comes the good part: There are many people and programs out there doing their best to help in the fight against hunger. And they are doing it in a variety of ways that makes them part of a proactive community.

In Clatsop County, the Clatsop Community Action Regional Food Bank has only two paid staff members: Director Marlin Martin and Operations Manager Dusten Martin (and if youre wondering, the answer is yes theyre father and son). Both of them work with the dedication and efficiency of a small army, ably assisted by a cadre of able and dedicated volunteers. The team sees the hunger problem as a people-active-food-active food chain. Providing food to 38 partner agencies made up of pantries, hot meal sites, shelters and other programs that assist low-income, hungry people, the food bank operates out of a 10,000-square-foot facility in Warrenton. Its warehouse/distribution center offers dry groceries (including pet food), fresh produce, frozen meats, dairy items, bakery products, household products and frozen foods. In its 2010-11 fiscal year, according to a CCA Food Bank brochure, the Food Bank and its network of partner agencies distributed a combined total of 1,081,544 pounds of emergency food. There are CCA Food Bank cooking classes, ongoing and new food drives and outreach programs educating both volunteers and food bank clients about the areas need to feed.

Marlin Martin brings to the Food Bank table an extensive background in grocery store management and it shows. Volunteer Merianne Myers, who is board chairwoman at the Astoria Co-op and member of the North Coast Food Web, stumbled into an opportunity to do some cooking classes through the regional Food Bank in Warrenton, she wrote in an Astoria Food Co-op newsletter article. Fellow Food Webber Marlin had an idea that cooking classes for folks on food assistance might make the foods that are available through the system more user-friendly. He was right! Myers ended the article with an appeal: The only thing in shorter supply than food is help … You could help ease the burden that currently rests on too few shoulders.

Astoria resident and Co-op member Gin Laughery, a former speech pathologist, heeded the call and now volunteers at the Food Bank every Thursday. Im a great believer in helping people through education, and this is a great place to participate, said Laughery. Its just plain good work that never leaves us wondering if our time is well spent, added Myers.

Doing their part to help stave off hunger, at the Tongue Point Job Corps Center, a few years ago, students initiated a penny war for the CCA Food Bank, which inspired the staff to follow suit. Its a cause near and dear to all of us at the Center, said Tita Montero, the centers business and community liaison.

In Seaside, working at the Community Garden, gardeners donate fresh produce to the food bank. At the North Coast Family Fellowship, Tracielynn Raterman heads up a food collection program, Blue Bags His Hands Feeding the Hungry. Every two months, on a Sunday morning, blue bags bulging with groceries are collected from the participating congregation. Fellowship Pastor Larry Rydman then transports the bags to the South County Community Food Bank. In March, the food collected weighed in at 2,400 pounds.

In Cannon Beach, ever since 11-year-old Chance Giguiere was in kindergarten, hes chosen to have his pals bring something to donate to the local food pantry rather than recieve a bevy of birthday party gifts and his good idea has spread to others his age. My grandma lives in Las Vegas and she feeds a homeless man every day, said Chance, whose DNA seems to carry a help gene.

The Cannon Beach Food Pantry, which serves the Cannon Beach and Arch Cape area, provides food for an average of 100 households per month. Each Wednesday, you can find the areas two cheap ladies (aka Kathe Leduc and Marlene Laws) heading out to stretch and then stretch again their food dollars. And just south of Manzanita, each Tuesday during the growing season, the volunteers at Alder Creek Farm deliver more than a ton of garden-fresh produce to the North County Food Bank.

Across the Columbia River, in Ocean Park, Wash., Reach Out Food Banks Simple Gesture is a program of giving where each participating volunteer family receives a green recycled shopping bag. Every time they go grocery shopping, they purchase one or two items to put in their green bags, said Sheryl Wren, food bank distribution manager. The effort is providing some much needed nonperishable, canned and prepackaged food. This Saturday will be our third pickup for the program that 100 to 150 families have signed up for. About a week before we pick up, we send them notification that we will be collecting. Participating families set the full bag out on their porch; our volunteers pick them up and leave an empty green bag. Weve collected 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of food each time we pick up. Whats nice about it is that for those people participating, its so simple. No worries about delivery or pickup. All they have to do is fill the green bag. Theres even a little tag on each bag that provides shopping recommendations, said Wren.

Life can be daunting, and hard times counterproductive to creativity. There is just nothing more reassuring, inspiring and delicious than cooking a meal together and sitting down to enjoy it with a healthy side of conversation and laughter, said Merianne Myer to which probably, and hopefully, most of us agree.