Generosity helps Food Bank meet rising need amid escalating costs for groceries and fuel

On a single day in early June, 190 people picked up their groceries at the Central Missouri Food Bank’s pantry on Indiana Street in Columbia.

Traffic in the aisles of cereal, apples and other staples usually peaks at the start of each month, when customer allotments are renewed. But there is nothing usual about the numbers this spring, Food Bank Executive Director Peggy Kirkpatrick said.

“It’s stunning,” she said. “I’ve been here 16 years, through the flood of 1993 and the economic downturn after 9-11, and I’ve never seen the need as we have today.”

In April, the Columbia pantry served 92 percent more people than it did in April 2005, Kirkpatrick said.

Columbia residents are better off than most in Missouri and in the United States for that matter, based on April’s metropolitan unemployment rate of 3.3 percent, up just 0.3 percent from the same month last year. But that doesn’t account for the growing number of working people coming up short on cash as food and fuel prices continue to surge.

Agencies in Columbia and elsewhere in Missouri are seeing more people who have never needed assistance before, Kirkpatrick said. These are people with the life skills to survive on their own, but setbacks such as a job loss or an income drop, a divorce or an illness not covered by insurance, are forcing them to seek assistance. “These are the folks living paycheck to paycheck and managing to get by,” she said.

Food Bank workers distribute food at a parking lot in Mexico, Mo.

The Central Missouri Food Bank, which supplies food to the pantry and 135 agencies in the central and northeast regions, is dealing with its own triple whammy of rising food prices, fuel costs and customer counts.

Unlike most other food banks in the United States, the Central Missouri Food Bank does not charge agencies for its services. In 2007 the Food Bank ran on a budget of $2.5 million – or about $36 million when adding the wholesale value of food – and distributed 21 million pounds of food. Distribution could top 25 million pounds this year. Financial donations fund 60 percent of the Food Bank’s budget, while food donations from manufacturers and local grocers help fill its warehouse.

But competition among grocers has improved efficiency in recent years, Schnucks manager Bill Chrisco said. This means ordering to the needs of business to slash unproductive inventory, such as fresh fruit with minor bruises and blemishes, which in turn means less food available for the Food Bank to pick up.

Volunteers at the Columbia Post Office sort food donated during the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive.

Even so, a Food Bank truck makes the daily rounds to Columbia grocery stores and bakeries, including a 6:30 stop at Schnucks each morning. The store’s entrance is flanked by barrels for donations of groceries, which customers continue to fill, though at a slightly slower pace than in past years, Chrisco said.

Besides donations, the Food Bank hauls in food from other states and then sends it back out to Missouri agencies. In doing so, the Food Bank is hit by a problem familiar to the people it serves: high fuel costs. Shipments from Pennsylvania, for instance, cost about $100 more than last year for dry loads and $300 for refrigerated loads, said Food Solicitor Don Moore. If gas prices hold, Kirkpatrick expects the food bank to blow through its annual fuel budget.

Counteracting the dismal dynamics, however, are an abundance of surprise donations that ensure the Food Bank warehouse remains stocked with cartons of dry food and breaded chicken. In December, the Missouri Foundation for Health gave the Food Bank a $70,000 grant, and more recently an unsolicited donation of $20,000 appeared in Kirkpatrick’s mailbox.

“God keeps supplying us,” she said, adding that the Food Bank has been supported by record numbers of volunteers. “I can’t explain it. We stand as a testimony to the providence of God and the goodness of people.” ϖ

Food Bank volunteer

Food Bank volunteer

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Donating

For every dollar donated, the Central Missouri Food Bank can provide its clients with 20 pounds of food. That’s enough for 15 meals. The food bank depends on donations for food, equipment and transportation, and the generosity of individual and business contributions provides more than 60 percent of the annual operating budget.

Volunteering

The Central Missouri Food Bank can always use more volunteers to repack food, stock shelves at the pantry, help with food drives and fund-raising events and help out in the warehouse.

olunteer Hours: 9 a.m.–12 p.m. and 1–4 p.m. daily; 5-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; and by appointment.

www.centralmofoodbank.org

(573) 474-1020 | 1-800-764-FOOD