Second Harvest Column: The Farm Bill and Other Good News

By Lois Rockhill

Good news or bad news. Since we have a choice, let’s look at the good things that have happened recently in the food bank world.

The Farm Bill passed Congress. I know in Indiana that has some serious repercussions per privatization, and I am concerned about that too. But for Hoosiers and other Americans living on the edge of economic crisis we are happy to say that more money will be available to access food for local food pantries.

The bill invests $4 billion over five years to improve Food Stamp Program benefits and access and to raise funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Food Stamps are critically important to a quarter of a million households in Indiana, helping to stretch budgets and in many cases being the difference between hunger and enough to eat.

The TEFAP program in this region provides food to pantries through Second Harvest Food Bank. More money, more food and that is always good news.

Kroger and area Pay Less Super Markets just completed two weeks of “Bringing Hope to the Table.” This promo was expected to generate several million dollars to assist 85 food banks in Kroger communities. It was based on vendor support and customer interest in specific products marked in each store by pink shelf tags. Last year the program brought in more than $6,000 to bring hope to many tables in east central Indiana.

Two endowment accounts were set up for Second Harvest Food Bank. The first was established at the Madison County Community Foundation and the second at the Wabash County Community Foundation. Both are open for donations. Look for similar funds established in each of the eight counties in our service area. Endowments are a sure way to provide ongoing revenue for programs and operations.

St. Martin’s Community Center in Marion celebrated its first year as a site for Kids Café. Previously housed at the YWCA in Grant County, this national program provides meals and enrichment activities for neighborhood children. Second Harvest oversees seven sites in five counties. St. Martin’s has a long history of providing meals and food assistance to people in need in Marion. We are happy to continue our assistance through Kids Café.

Prairie Farms Dairy donated more food to Second Harvest Food Bank in the first half of 2007 than they did all of last year.

“Prairie Farms has a strong commitment to communities we live and work in and the people who buy our products,” said Harry Carter, general manager. “Further, we feel that there is a need to get product distributed to the citizens less fortunate than us. This is why we donate the products we do, and Second Harvest fills that need.

“Sometimes we have products that are improperly coded or labeled yet perfectly edible. Second Harvest is the ideal way for us to get these products into the hands of those who need them.” So far this year Prairie Farms has donated nearly 130,000 pounds of milk, orange juice, grape juice, apple juice, cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt, eggs and other products. What great additions to the pantry menu!

Grace House and Christmas Behind Bars in Marion, Take 5 Community Outreach in Muncie, Wabash Chapel Church of God and Jay County West food pantries are the newest members of the Second Harvest Food Bank network of providers. These groups use food and product from Second Harvest for residential programs, outreach to area prisoners and to supply their non-food and food pantries. They join 130 other programs in the region receiving food and product from Second Harvest Food Bank.

Second Harvest Food Bank received $22,500 worth of state tax credits to sell and has sold them all! Due to changes at the state level in allocating credits, our portion was half of what it was last fiscal year. By selling them all early, we put ourselves closer to the top of the line for any reallocate credits later in the year. We are certainly thankful to our generous donors for taking advantage of this program.

For the last bit of good news, we are on target for moving to Delaware County by October. The freezer floor is in and volunteers from the Henry County Jail are helping prepare the refrigeration panels for installation. We look forward to continuing service to all eight counties of our service area from the new location. We are pretty certain that we will be reaching more people with more food in every community!

Lois Rockhill is Executive Director of Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana, Inc. and can be reached at  lrockhill@curehunger.org

Technorati Tags: News Anderson Community Groups Delaware County East Central Indiana ECI Family food stamps Health Lois Rockhill Madison County Madison County Community Foundation Muncie Prairie Farms Dairy Second Harvest Second Harvest Food Bank TEFAP The Emergency Food Assistance Program Wabash County Community Foundation Yorktown YWCA Grant County

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