Columbus Dispatch, June 22, 2008: Stretching to help
Sunday, June 22, 2008 3:30 AM
By Alan Johnson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
TOM DODGE | DISPATCH
Imagine filling your grocery cart, only to find at the checkout that prices went up 9 percent while you were shopping.
Officials at the Mid-Ohio FoodBank ran headlong into that problem May 29 as they spent $402,000 in food aid from the new federal farm bill.
The agency’s online order from the U.S. Department of Agriculture commodities program totaled just less than $400,000. But the next day, food bank officials were told they were $36,000 short because a price increase took effect while the order was being placed. The cost of a truckload of peanut butter jumped $6,000 in minutes — and Mid-Ohio was ordering several loads of peanut butter, one of its most popular items.
Like home shoppers who exceed their budget, Mid-Ohio folks had to put something back — in this case, a tractor-trailer load of spaghetti and another of spaghetti sauce.
The story illustrates part of the problem faced by Matt Habash and his staff at Mid-Ohio FoodBank, as well as the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks and similar organizations across the state and nationwide.
Skyrocketing fuel prices are another big headache. Mid-Ohio runs a fleet of trucks to pick up surplus food across the area and deliver it to the 535 pantries, soup kitchens and other organizations in Franklin and 19 more counties it serves.
Habash budgeted for a 33 percent jump in fuel costs, but he already knows the extra $200,000 won’t be enough.
At the same time, demand for food from Mid-Ohio is up 14 percent from last year and 77 percent compared with 10 years ago. The amount of food provided nearly doubled in 10 years, to 29.5 million pounds last year.
“We are going to have to work even harder to find more food from all of our sources — the food industry, farmers, the state of Ohio — and increase bulk purchases with donated funds,” said Habash, former president of the Columbus City Council.
Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, did a recent analysis indicating a looming statewide gap of 26 million pounds of food to feed the poor and working poor.
“Food inflation is at a 17-year high,” she said. “People’s incomes have not matched rising costs. For our families, there’s no place left to cut. They’ve already cut.”
Mid-Ohio and other big food banks buy in bulk, which saves money. They also get donations and cash from Operation Feed and benefit from industry contributions and the state and federal government.
Food prices have caused real sticker shock lately. The cost of rice went up so much last year that Mid-Ohio didn’t buy any. The price today is 118 percent higher than in 2007.
Other traditional food-pantry items cost more, too: Spaghetti is up 98 percent, applesauce 48 percent, and whole-kernel corn 33 percent since last year.
The increases have forced Mid-Ohio and others to “lighten the bag,” giving individuals and families less so they can continue serving everyone. Mid-Ohio is providing an average of 11.3 pounds of food per request, down from 13.6 pounds three years ago.
Food pantries compete vigorously for the increasingly scarce supplies at Mid-Ohio. One recent morning, the food bank had 2,000 cases of canned chicken available through its online ordering system, which opens about 7:30 a.m. By the time the order clerk clocked in to work at 8 a.m., all 2,000 cases were claimed.
While food pantries, soup kitchens and other organizations get food from Mid-Ohio at highly subsidized prices, about 2 cents a pound, they must increasingly resort to shopping retail stores to fill the gap that the food bank can’t supply.
Barb Packer, director of food-pantry services for Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio, said donors have been generous to help her agency meet the problem in increased demand and reduced food supplies.
“It’s costing us more I was able to feed a family of four for three days on $20. Now it costs $24.”
Smaller pantries without much money often buy food at discount retail stores, such as Sam’s Club, Sav-A-Lot and Aldi, Packer said.
ajohnson@dispatch.com