Second Harvest Column: Perfect Days in Indiana

Members of our family kayaked White River, spent time at the Madison County 4-H fair, camped at Spring Mill State Park and watched the Indians baseball game.

The gorgeous weather made outdoor work pleasant as well. Son Kevin was called on to help the Indy Stars dive team move equipment and Erv and I tackled the big mowing job at Second Harvest Food Bank’s new property in Delaware County. We found ourselves outside at every opportunity.

Over at the new place, it was fun skimming across the geography on the Ferris mower. There is a lot of open area to mow at 6621 N. Old Indiana 3 — thank goodness the back 24 acres are planted in soy beans! I took hubby Erv inside the warehouse to show off the progress there.

We’ve had a lot of electrical work done for the freezer and refrigerator. The warming tape was installed in the concrete floor, a vapor shield is down and the insulation squares are being laid. There is a form set for the floor and the ramp, ready for concrete to be poured this week. Then comes installation of the steel risers and after that the panels and refrigeration.

We are scouting around for volunteers for the last week of July. If we can find some sturdy folks who can help put up the steel and prepare the panels, we could shave $30,000 off the total project. We have the supervisor and equipment. If you have a strong back and a few days for community service give our associate director, Tim Kean, a call at (765) 649-0292. We’ll provide the lunch!

As we move forward with preparations for relocation from Anderson to Delaware County, we find many opportunities to explain just what it is we do. Those of you who have been in our warehouse at 1417 Meridian St. in Anderson have a better understanding of our hunger relief work.

You know that people in need do not come to us for help.

What! Yes, that’s right! You will see no distribution to individuals going on at our warehouse. You will see cases of product pulled, put on skids and shrink wrapped. Ready to be loaded on our trucks for delivery to pantries and programs that are providing food and meals to hungry Hoosiers in eight counties of east central Indiana.

If you already knew this, you are way ahead of many people in the community. Food banking is so young that most people don’t quite understand what it is. The good news is that nearly everyone knows that we provide food to people in need. It is the “how” that is puzzling.

Think of us as a Prairie Farms Dairy or Red Gold or a Marsh Perishable Food Warehouse. We warehouse the food and get it to outlets that get it to the final users.

With that in mind, you can more easily understand how we can operate in Delaware County while fully serving the needs of Madison County. We already have the infrastructure up and running in each county. We have outlets doing business with us that will continue the good work they are doing no matter where we set the warehouse.

Everything stays the same. Every outlet has the same opportunity to access the food we bring in for hunger relief. The big change is that we will be able to have even more food available for each outlet once we are in a safe, secure, efficiently operated warehouse.