Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter reports from a Grand Rapids food bank. While some charities around Minnesota are doing well during the holiday season, many food shelves in rural Minnesota and North Dakota are struggling to feed all the hungry people asking for help.
CATHERINE WINTER: At the Second Harvest North Central Food Bank in Grand rapids, Director Marcia Nottingham looks over some brightly wrapped packages piled in a corner of the food bank's warehouse. Nottingham says, every year the food bank takes up a special collection to buy presents for children and holiday food baskets for needy families in Itasca County.
MARCIA NOTTINGHAM: We try to put more like a three day supply of food in, including cereals, and fruits, and vegetables, and pasta, and pasta sauce, and peanut butter, and jelly, and then the trimmings for a Christmas dinner, which will include a turkey. It will include stuffing mix, vegetables, pie filling, ingredients to make cookies, potatoes, carrots, oranges, apples, those kind of things.
CATHERINE WINTER: Nottingham says, the number of families seeking holiday baskets has grown from 1,100 last year to 1,300 this year. She says, nearly 11% of the people in Itasca County have asked for holiday baskets. But the food bank hasn't gotten enough donations to cover the cost. Nottingham says, if the food bank can't raise $40,000 by the end of today, this year, for the first time, they'll consider cutting some families from the list.
MARCIA NOTTINGHAM: We would technically have to go and like every fifth person cut, and we're hoping we don't have to do that-- every fifth or every 10th, depending on how much money we would raise. The other option we would look at is that we would not put turkeys in. But for a holiday meal, you really want to provide somebody with a turkey.
CATHERINE WINTER: Nottingham says, she thinks they will raise the money for the holiday program. And she says, so far, this year, the food bank has managed to keep its shelves stocked, even though demand for food has increased throughout the year. Some other Minnesota food banks are doing all right, too, especially in urban areas demand for food is down slightly for the first three quarters of this year.
But in many parts of Minnesota, demand is up. And nationwide, donations to food banks dropped by about 15% in the last year. At the Great Plains Food Bank, which serves all of North Dakota and Clay County in Minnesota, Director Steve Sellent says, demand is up 2% and donations are down 9%
STEVE SELLENT: Basically, our warehouse is empty. Last year at this time, I don't think we could have gotten another pallet of food in. And right now, we've probably got, you know, room for five semi loads or more. It's with the donations down and the demand up, basically, we have no backlog. The food goes out as fast as it comes in.
CATHERINE WINTER: Sellent says, the fundamental problem seems to be that many people can't afford to feed their families even if they're working.
STEVE SELLENT: In North Dakota, we see, you know, unemployment's at 2%, but poverty is at 14% You know, there's just a lot more people working for low wages, you know, a lot more single parents out there with limited incomes.
CATHERINE WINTER: Many people who use food shelves are working. A statewide report by the Urban Coalition and the Minnesota Food Shelf Association found that last year, 40% of the people who used food shelves said, employment was their chief source of income. 60% said, they only come to food shelves once or twice in a year. But the Reverend Chris Morton, Director of Minnesota Foodshare, says, there seems to be a public perception that people using food shelves are freeloading.
REVEREND CHRIS MORTON: I'm alarmed. There's an atmosphere of antagonism towards people who have needs rather than those who are so-called self-sufficient. And while we need to move people more towards that, their own self-reliance, there are people who need help through some rough times. And we need to remain compassionate.
CATHERINE WINTER: Morton says, he's worried about what will happen in the coming year as the welfare reforms passed by Congress go into effect. As people lose food stamps, he expects more families will need help from food shelves, even as the supply of food continues to shrink. Despite the giving spirit that usually prevails at this time of year, many parts of Minnesota are already feeling the pinch. I'm Catherine Winter, Mainstreet Radio, Grand Rapids.
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