Stepping up in hard times : Area food bank, food pantries get a boost from people looking to give.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Gary Lookadoo
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/05/29/religion/053009relfaithmatters.txt
BENTON COUNTY - In these tough times, people are helping the needy.
Early this year, volunteers started to collect nonperishable food donations for the food pantries at Christ the King Lutheran Church and All Saints Episcopal Church in Bentonville.
The effort continues, said Beverly Williams, who organized and continues to work on the project.
At Allen’s Foods, at 60 Sugar Creek Center in Bella Vista, a volunteer keeps a box for food donations, Williams said.
“People, as they come in and out, see the pantry box. And they’ll drop food into it. And she picks it up every week or two and brings it by here and we collect it,” Williams said.
Another couple goes once a month to Sam’s Club, 3500 S.E. Club Blvd. in Bentonville, she said.
“They’ll buy anywhere from three to six cases of canned goods and bring them by. So about twice a month we head down to the (two churches’) food pantry” at 406 W. Central Ave. in Bentonville.
There are other such food pantries in the area, but only six food banks in Arkansas. Like the food pantries, the food banks depend on support from volunteer helpers, said Lana Harris, director of development for the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.
“We cover Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties kind of as the distribution place for the pantries, and then the pantries are the ones who actually serve the individuals who are in need. So that’s where they get their food - from us,” Harris said.
Compared with the same period in 2008, her food bank has seen about a 65 percent increase in distribution over the last few months, she said.
“That is pretty scary when you start to seen an increase that big. In a down economic time, it’s not unusual for food banks and food pantries to see an increase, but, you know, it’s steadily increasing,” Harris said.
The food bank is on pace now to distribute 4 million pounds of food in 2009. It distributed more than 3 million pounds of food in 2008, which was up 1 million pounds from 2007, she said.
“That, to me, speaks volumes about the situation that we have, even here in northwest Arkansas,” Harris said.
The food bank needs community support to stay full enough and to serve people in need, she said.
Help by donating money - food-bank shoppers can stretch dollars further than the average person can, Harris said.
“We’re able to pool our resources with the other food banks. You know, we can buy an entire semi-truck of macaroni and cheese,” she said.
But people can help by accessing the food bank online - there’s even a virtual food drive there - or by organizing a food drive with a civic group, a church or a neighborhood, Harris said. The Web site is nwafoodbank.org.
The food bank is at 1378 June Self Drive in Bethel Heights.
For more information, call 872-8774, Ext. 200.