The Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast Ohio in Logan distributed nine million pounds of food to about 200 organizations in nine counties last year, but demand for food is still rising, and the amount of food available is waning.
Food pantries have seen such an increase in demand from folks that have lost their jobs or have had to take jobs that are minimum wage
or $7 an hour and not able to meet their needs said Dick Stevens, Second Harvest's Southeast Ohio food and nutrition director.
Our region in particular has suffered tremendously as a result of factory jobs moving out of our area Stevens said.
Second Harvest is a national network of food banks based out of Chicago. Food donations to Second Harvest declined 30 percent nationally last year, Stevens said.
The organization receives surplus food items from major food manufacturers that could not sell their product. The food banks rely on industry in the area for the overstock, which contributes to the lack of donations in Southeast Ohio.
We are unfortunately in a resource-poor area
Stevens said. Some national donors in the area include Michelina's in Jackson, Ralston Foods in Lancaster and General Mills in Wellston, he said.
But corporations are constantly trying to improve quality control so they have less loss, which equals fewer donations for the food banks, he said.
We're at the mercy of their mistakes
Stevens said.
Corporations can also make a profit by selling excess food to secondary stores such as Big Lots, but when food is donated to food banks, it must be written as a loss, he said.
Second Harvest also gets some U.S. Department of Agriculture commodities through the state-funded Emergency Food Assistance Program and through a reclamation process for damaged foods and other goods, Stevens said.
Food pantries and other organizations pay Second Harvest a fee of 16 cents per pound of food for handling, which is a tremendous saving to pantries, he said.
They're paying less for a case (of cereal) than what the cost would have been to pay for a box
Stevens said.
The handling fee allows many food pantries to operate -If the food bank wasn't here
I'd guarantee in our nine counties
80 percent of pantries would fold
Stevens said. It would be too costly.
United Campus Ministry, 18 N. College St., is in its 11th year of hosting a Thursday supper, for which they purchase food from Second Harvest, said Melissa Wales, the interim director of UCM Center for Spiritual Growth and Social Justice. UCM also relies on private donations and receives fresh produce from local growers on Wednesdays.
The Thursday supper feeds about 30-45 people every week, but attendance usually rises at the end of the month when other options, such as food stamps, run short, Wales said.
Wales has seen a slight increase in Thursday supper patrons over the last few years, especially among families with children. Social changes such as welfare reform affect a family's ability to provide, she said.
The number of people taking advantage of the free meal would likely be greater if people in rural areas had access to transportation, she said.
I'm sure our numbers would double
if not triple
Wales said.
Rural areas, including those in surrounding Vinton, Perry and Meigs counties, are hit especially hard, said Allene Kilgore, a member of Logan's Second Harvest advisory board.
Kilgore has seen the lack of food first-hand as the coordinator of the Monday lunch at First United Methodist Church, 2 S. College St.
I've seen a huge decrease in the amount of goods listed that we can buy from the food bank
