It certainly looked a lot like Christmas with stacked cans substituting for fresh-cut trees during FOOD Share’s third annual CAN-tree Collection drive held at The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard. Courtesy FOOD Share.
Food drives during the holidays help, but don’t solve daily issue for those in need
By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805
It was a bountiful gathering, nearly 200,000 pounds of food collected during the weekend of Dec. 5-7 to provide for those in need in Ventura County.
FOOD Share — Ventura County’s Food Bank’s third annual CAN-Tree Collection more than doubled total donations from last year’s food drive, the organization reported in a media release.
The Collection’s Park View Court was lined with 225 CAN-trees built by business and community teams, as well as a 14-foot can-tree made of 10,000 cans of food donated by Ventura County Credit Union and constructed by students of ACE Charter High School, and members of the Ventura County Contractors Association and Naval Base Ventura County.
“We are overwhelmed by the generosity of those in our community who helped make this not only a fun event, but one which we hope will make a difference for those in need during the holidays,” Mike Powers, County of Ventura CEO and CAN-tree co-chair, stated in the release. “Working together with FOOD Share continues to be a wonderful and worthwhile experience.”
The third annual CAN-tree Collection drive was part of FOOD Share’s Tackle Hunger campaign. Courtesy FOOD Share.
Along with the donated food that will help restock the shelves of its Oxnard warehouse distribution center, FOOD Share hoped to collect more than $150,000 in monetary donations this holiday season.
“The outpouring of support we’ve received from the community and their efforts to give back to make this event the largest food drive of the year is incredible,” FOOD Share President and CEO Bonnie Weigel stated in the release. “We are grateful to have partners within the community who come back every year to support CAN-tree and inspire more people to join in our mission.”
The need continues
Holiday food drives were also held in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. But while the collections helped fill the need during the holiday season, the battle against hunger in the 805 region remains a year-round effort.
For FOOD Share, the canned food drive helps put a dent into supplying the more than 10 million pounds of food distributed annually in Ventura County. Meanwhile, Foodbank of Santa Barbara County also distributes nearly 10 million pounds of food in the region, with Latinos making up 65 percent of its clients.
While many believe the end of the great recession has eased the economic hardship among residents in the 805 region, officials say the need is still great.
FOOD Share staff and volunteers, through 180 partner agencies, which include neighborhood and church food distributions, soup kitchens and hunger assistance programs, serve 74,500 people per month.
One in four people receive food support from Foodbank of Santa Barbara County — more than 140,575 unduplicated people per year, of whom nearly 40 percent are children.
Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, above, which distributes food through its partner agencies, also benefited from the annual Giving Tuesday fundraiser on Dec. 2, below. Courtesy photo.
Many face a tough choice
More than 70 percent of local households seeking food assistance from Foodbank’s network have to choose between paying for food and other necessities such as utilities and transportation, according to the Hunger in America 2014 report for Santa Barbara County. The recent study was conducted by Foodbank, in partnership with Feeding America, a leading domestic hunger-relief organization.
“In Santa Barbara County, the faces of food insecurity and hunger may not stand out from the crowd, but the poverty of working families and the day-to-day trade-offs that the study brought to light are alarming,” Erik Talkin, Foodbank’s CEO stated in a media release. “It’s hard to imagine facing the choice between your family going hungry or being able to pay for the transportation you need to get to your job, or the housing you need to shelter your family. No one in our community should have to face even small everyday trade-offs, like our neighbors who must feed expired or watered-down food to their families or else go hungry. …These are shocking findings but ones that strengthen our resolve to help our neighbors move from hunger to health, which improves our community in far-reaching ways.”
Courtesy photo.
Working families countywide are making other tough trade-offs between food and housing, medicines and education opportunities, Foodbank reported.
A study of hunger
The study supports and confirms statistics collected by Foodbank on the number of people served and amount of food distributed by the organization, officials reported. The Feeding America data provide an understanding of the economic circumstances and the factors encountered by those relying on Foodbank.
Foodbank has been a member of the Feeding America network for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County uses its mobile van to reach those in need. Courtesy photo.
The study also documents household demographics and offers a snapshot of the people served by the Foodbank – their circumstances, the challenges they face and the choices they are forced to make living on extremely limited household incomes, officials reported.
It is also the first nationally representative study that assesses the prevalence of past and current members of the U.S. military and adult students receiving charitable food assistance, officials reported.
The Santa Barbara study found that of the 140,575 unduplicated people served by the food bank, 49,729 were children from birth through 17 years of age, with 21,750 seniors 60 years of age and older.
Besides its 65 percent Latino client base, 38 percent of the food bank’s clients were white with 3 percent Black/African American.
A total of 17 percent of households included someone who is a veteran or who has ever served in the military, and 39 percent of those households include someone who is currently serving in the military.
More than 50 percent of the 9.3 million pounds of food distributed by Foodbank was fresh produce.
More than 600 volunteers contributed over 20,146 hours of their time and service to make Foodbank’s services possible.
Hunger by the numbers
The study also found that:
• 71 percent of households reported using three or more coping strategies for getting enough food in the past 12 months.
These trade-offs included eating food past its expiration date, purchasing inexpensive, unhealthy food because they could not afford healthier options, growing food in a garden, pawning or selling personal property and watering down food or drinks.
• 70 percent reported choosing between paying for food and paying for utilities.
• 74 percent reported making choices between paying for food and paying for transportation.
• 52 percent of households chose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage at least once in the past 12 months.
• An estimated 38 percent of client households currently receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, while an estimated 35 percent of client households neither currently receive SNAP nor have ever applied for SNAP benefits.
• 60 percent of households reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care at least once in the past 12 months.
• 21 percent of households include a member with diabetes.
• 49 percent of households have a member with high blood pressure.
• 64 percent of client households have annual incomes under $10,000
• An estimated 55 percent of households have a household member who had worked for pay in the past year.
• In 65 percent of client households, the most-employed person from the past 12 months is currently out of work.
• An estimated 87 percent of households reside in non-temporary housing, such as a house or an apartment. An estimated 20 percent of respondents have experienced a foreclosure or eviction in the past five years.
• 4,425, or 3 percent of families are homeless.
The study was funded by The Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
A summary of the findings is available at http://www.foodbanksbc.org/key-findings-statistics. The full national report is available on Feeding America’s website at Hunger in America 2014 http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/our-research/the-hunger-study.
Nationally, Hunger in America 2014 found that more than 46 million people turn to agencies and programs of the Feeding America network of food banks every year.
“The Hunger in America 2014 findings demonstrate the urgent need for all of us to address hunger in our communities,” said Bob Aiken, CEO of Feeding America. “This data provides a factual basis for decisions about how we as a nation approach hunger relief and protect our most vulnerable citizens.”
Who to contact
> To make donations to FOOD Share — Ventura County’s Food Bank, go to http://www.foodshare.com/Donate.aspx or visit http://www.foodshare.com for more information.
> To make a donation to Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, go to https://secure.qgiv.com/for/fosbc/ or visit http://www.foodbanksbc.org/contact-us/ for more information.
> To make a donation to Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County, visit https://www.slofoodbank.org/make_a_donation.php or visit https://www.slofoodbank.org for more information.