As the economy continues to falter, more people are turning to food pantries to be able to keep meals on the table for their families and themselves. Today's Wisconsin State Journal reports that since 2001, 57% more families have turned to emergency food sources. Food banks struggle to keep up with demand, but also are finding better ways to serve their clientele more efficiently and effectively.
[now with new and improved links that, umm, work]
One of those improvements is the offering of choice in what food items an individual may take home. Operators of food banks used to present people with boxes of bags or pre-selected items. Often, however, people receiving the food were only using about half of what they received for various reasons.
From Dee J. Hall at the State Journal...
"We find that only about half of the food we distribute in bags and boxes is being consumed," [Bob] Mohelnitzky said, citing a Second Harvest study out of Michigan. "If you go to a pantry that's not client choice, you see people trying to give food back ... or you find it in the parking lot or at the bus stop. ... There may be very valid reason (such as allergies) why they can not or will not eat what we've packaged for them."
...
The pantry gives each person an allotted number of points, which they use to pick out items. Bread is free; eggs are three points, ham four, a giant tub of salsa is six points, and produce is 3 pounds per point. Less popular items or those in abundant supply are sometimes offered two for one, [Ralph] Middlecamp said, just like a regular grocery store. Unlike a store, however, volunteers walk alongside the shoppers with clipboards, helping them keep track of their points.
Mark Thompson, president of the Sun Prairie Emergency Food Pantry, which is patterned on the St. Vincent de Paul model, said volunteers are more engaged with clients than under the old system, which kept them busy assembling predetermined packages of food. "It's a better use of our volunteer time," he said.
This makes a huge amount of sense. Consider the mom who knows what her kids will and won't eat, or can and cannot eat. By following a point system, she can work toward assembling menus her family will actually eat, thus reducing the amount of food that goes unused. It also works against the unfortunate characterization that "beggars can't be choosers." The people visiting food banks are not and should not be thought of as beggars at all. Doing so, it seems to me, may let people's sense of pride and self-worth stand in the way of providing nutritious meals for their kids because they have fallen on hard times. (What some people sneer at as socialism is what others kindly regard as helping out those who can use a little help to get by.)
Even with the forward-thinking choice model in food assistance, some things just can't be accommodated. For example, food pantries are not going to offer custom birthday cakes for little kids. Or are they?
A few weeks ago, our neighbor Gina called to ask of she could borrow a baking pan. She needed an additional 8x8 cake pan to make a square layer cake. Seemed odd. But she explained that she, along with daughter Brittany, was making a special birthday cake for a child who loved Spiderman. The cake was going to be square so it could be made to look like a building Spiderman was climbing. How cool is that?
Gina explained that a local food bank offered parents the opportunity to request, at no charge whatsoever, a birthday cake for a child. Often, these kids have never had a special birthday cake of their own. That celebratory cake many of us took for granted, with our own name included in the frosting, is something some children only dream of.
There is a national organization called Free Cakes for Kids that has chapters across the country. It was founded by Toni Poulos, from Trenton, Georgia, who recognized that for some families, there wasn't enough money for both a present and a birthday cake. Sometimes there was no money for either.
A seemingly small effort on the part of a kind and generous person would make a huge difference in the life of a child. It's really generosity in terms of time as much as money. If you want to pitch in, freecakesforkids.com has a chapter locater that can link you with a nearby food bank that helps facilitate the program.
[cross-posted on Kerfuffle]