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Food Bank Storing Up For Winter

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2007

TAMPA - Food insecurity - it's a term that means not knowing where your next meal will come from or whether you will have the money to pay for it.

Each week, volunteers at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Valrico distribute donated food to 30 or 40 people who struggle with food insecurity. Between those weekly visits, the church volunteers 'shop' at America's Second Harvest of Tampa Bay, loading boxes with crackers, canned meat, cookies and fruit. On a good day, they might get Smithfield hams or Tropicana fruit juice.

'We see a lot of single mothers with kids and a lot of unemployed,' said St. Stephen volunteer Garciela Langan.

The staff from the Drug Abuse Comprehensive Coordinating Office in Tampa also visits the food bank regularly, loading up on chow mein noodles, children's vitamins, Stove Top stuffing and Juicy Juice. The agency offers medical treatment for people who abuse drugs and alcohol.

'The mothers that come in, they have no food and no place to live,' Alton Shedrick, manager of the outreach program, said. 'We come in here and load up every three or four months.'

Some groups visit weekly.

Mark Southerland, resource development director for the Second Harvest food bank, said more than 40,000 people in Hillsborough County struggle with food insecurity. That's more than 10 percent of the population, and 25 percent of those in such dire straits are children, he said. An additional 20 percent are elderly. America's Second Harvest of Tampa Bay provides for many of them through its warehouse west of Brandon, living up to the agency's motto, 'Feeding the hungry today, ending hunger tomorrow.'

As the busy fall holiday season gears up, the number of outstretched hands increases exponentially. America's Second Harvest will turn to the community for volunteer help and donations that will feed the needy in 10 counties.

'The need goes up incrementally every year,' Southerland said. 'The needs in the community are way up.' America's Second Harvest distributes 11 million pounds of food a year to anti-hunger organizations in the 10-county area, Southerland said. The need is double that.

Some people barely make enough money to feed their families, Southerland said. Add to that the housing crisis and rising fuel costs, and that creates more need, he said.

'It's a convergence of things that make their safety net a little less secure,' he said.

Some agencies visit daily.

Before they get there, truckloads of donated items must be sorted and shelved.

This takes lots of volunteers.

One recent day, volunteers from Grace Lutheran Church in Carrollwood and from Operation Helping Hands, an offshoot of MacDill Air Force Base's Military Officers Association of America, sorted canned goods, boxed items, miscellaneous candy and drinks.

'This is part of our Works of Grace outreach program,' said Roz Kulik, who coordinates the outreach for Grace Lutheran. 'We had a neighborhood food drive and collected over a ton of food during our Christmas in July, and this is our third time here.'

HOW TO HELP

To volunteer at the food bank, call Willene Hayward at (813) 254-1190, Ext. 112.

John Lennon specialty license tags, featuring the word 'Imagine,' help fight hunger. A portion of the proceeds from the tags go to the Florida Association of Food Banks. Go to www.imagineplate.com for more information.

Each year during November and December, WFLA News Channel 8, WQYK 99.5 radio, The Tampa Tribune and TBO .com sponsor Food for Families, encouraging shoppers to purchase a bag of food for the hungry. Last year, the program collected 880,000 pounds of food. This year, the goal is to collect 1 million pounds. Bags will be available at Publix, Sweetbay and new this year, Winn-Dixie stores.

Albertsons' will sponsor Oktoberfest at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg on Oct. 27. Volunteers are needed to pour beer and serve bratwursts. All proceeds from the event will go to America's Second Harvest of Tampa Bay. Call (813) 254-1190.

On Nov. 5, the food bank will host its first fundraising golf tournament at Hunter's Green Golf & Country Club in New Tampa, sponsored by Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. Volunteers are needed. Call Conway Jensen at (813) 254-1190.

On Nov. 11 the food bank will hold a rubber duck race in downtown Tampa. Some 20,000 rubber ducks will be sold for $5 each, then dumped off the Meridian Bridge at Channelside. The owner of the first duck to cross the finish line behind the Tampa Convention Center wins $25,000. Call (813) 254-1190, Ext. 100, for information.

The food bank's 12th annual Empty Bowls luncheon takes place Nov. 15. Participants dine on modest soup and bid on the pottery in which their lunch is served. Call (813) 254-1190 for more information.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532 or yhammet@tampatrib.com.

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