Food Supply Endangered
By S_Afelts
WOODSTOCK-"The involvement of every citizen of Virginia is needed to assure that some of our less fortunate neighbors have sufficient food, not just for the Holiday Season, but all year round," reports the Volunteer Farm. "The number of hungry people is growing, which may lead to a shortage of food in
2008."
"While we are not ready to holler wolf, we are alarmed with indications that the system is fractured at various critical points as food flows from the Federal government, to the more than 200 food banks serving as warehouses for state regions, and then to hungry people through large numbers of food
pantries, soup kitchens and similar outlets," according to Bob Blair, Chair & CEO of the World Foundation for Children, sponsor of the Volunteer Farm.
"Virginia statistics indicate one out of eight people in the state are considered 'food insecure,' with nearly 40 percent being children," Blair said. "In the Blue Ridge Mountains, 142,000 individuals are living at or below the poverty level, while only 129,000 people a year are receiving food through the food bank network of some 430 food pantries, soup kitchens, Kids Cafes and other agencies.
"We are talking about feeding the elderly, handicapped, working poor, and children. Most are out of work for the rest of their lives, and some will be without work for a season, such as construction workers who may be unemployed for four winter months," Blair said.
"January may break all the records," says Martin White, CEO of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Verona. "Although the food donations are decreasing, the demand for food is on the rise. We face fresh challenges and a phenomenal undertaking. 2008 will be a lean year. Demand is simply
outstripping supply, and some of our old methods are no longer working."
(Typical of the more than 200 food banks in the U. S., the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank serves 25 counties and nine cities: Cities of Bedford, Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lynchburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, and Winchester, plus the counties of Albemarle, Amherst,
Appomattox, Augusta, Bath, Bedford, Buckingham, Campbell, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Frederick, Greene, Highland, Loudoun, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Page, Rappahannock, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren.)
The unique Volunteer Farm is located centrally in Woodstock to donate fresh vegetables to the Blue Ridge food bank network. The 65 acre farm is operated by volunteers to grow up to 30 acres of nutritious vegetables, which are loaded in the field directly on to the food bank trucks. However,
the Volunteer Farm has been frustrated by not being able to produce enough fresh food to meet the needs of growing numbers of hungry people, who are then left with nothing but canned goods. Now the supply of canned goods is being threatened also.
Blair said, "We are very nervous in hearing the shelves of some food pantries around the country, as well as a few in Virginia, are nearly empty because of the high costs of fuel necessary for operating the food banks' trucks, plus the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) recently reported they are unable to provide food banks around the country with enough surplus food for distribution to the poor."
The USDA says that their donations to food banks have been slashed more than 70 percent in the past three years due to the growing demand for agricultural products and the steady rise in food prices, Blair said. The price tag for the reduction in just 2006 was $175 million compared to 2003. Pundits refuse to bet the problem will be resolved by Congress in 2008.
Blair said a soup kitchen in Harrisonburg reports they have definitely noted the USDA slashes which force the buying of more food as the need has not diminished and they must serve many more people every day. They said there are also times when the food bank has a shortage, which causes them to rely on more local donations.
Recently two churches with food pantries in Crozet each experienced 30 percent increases in the number of people requesting food in the same week. One of the churches cut back 30 percent on the amount of food given to each family, while the other church simply ran out of food before everyone had been served.
A Winchester church, which runs a food pantry and a sandwich/soup lunch, says they have been affected by USDA cutbacks, "but we have been able to compensate," mainly through donations from church members. They also report increases in clients in the second half of the year.
One of the area's largest food pantries, Interfaith Relief in Leesburg, which helps feed 300 to 400 people per week, "has been definitely affected by the cutbacks, but we are shifting our resources to make-do."
A manager of the Food Bank's Winchester warehouse facility said, "We are often totally out of USDA food, and the pantries are running out of food and must buy what they need. Some pantries are experiencing 30 to 40 percent increases in customers in recent months. It is expensive for the pantries, but they will do what they need to do to keep on serving people. But it will never be what it used to be."
At the same time, the cost of retail food in 2008 is expected to rise three to four percent, putting a growing squeeze on every household. Meanwhile, USDA says the number of people in the U. S. struggling to put food on the table has grown to more than 35.5 million. According to the report, more
than 10 percent of Americans, including 12.6 million children, are hungry or at risk of hunger.
"We are particularly concerned with the serious problem of hungry children, because kids can not concentrate on their school work when they are hungry," Blair said. "Also, because of the replacement of junk food, hunger adds to obesity, as well as diabetes, heart problems and other medical issues that
shorten life.
"No, this is not 'starvation' conditions, which you could easily find in Haiti, Africa or some third-world nation," Blair said. "But it is shameful for such a rich country to have so many hungry people. Our current system will merely continue to prolong poverty in the country, while shortening the lives of a lot of children. We pray the country's economy does not go south next year."
Blair said, "This was our fourth year of trying to address the hunger problem, but our production was cut in half by the drought. So far the Volunteer Farm has produced 175,000 pounds of vegetables for the hungry, although it is now very obvious that we must grow more food to feed more people. We must now carefully analyze this apparent food shortage and determine what we can do to help fill in the gaps by increasing our food production in 2008. At the moment, I fear we cannot produce enough to meet the need, but we will try.
"On the bright side," Blair said, "The Volunteer Farm as a concept has the capability of producing many more tons of food, since the number of volunteers has been roughly doubling every year for planting, maintaining and harvesting the crops. This year the farm hosted and mentored some 2,300 volunteers, of which 73 percent were under 18 years of age, and we would love to have 5,000 volunteers in 2008.
"The volunteers come from churches, schools, summer camps, and civic organizations, and the youngsters understand the value of mission work. During 2007, volunteers came from 26 foreign nations and almost every state in the union. So we have children serving children."
"It seems logical to simply replicate the Volunteer Farm in other parts of Virginia and perhaps beyond," Blair said. "However, we have tried to go down that road several times in the last few years, but every time we find some potential land to acquire on a low cost lease, the offer disappears as the owners find other uses for their property."
The Volunteer Farm receives no financial assistance from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, United Way, or any local, state or federal governmental agency. Support comes from individual donations, churches, businesses, civic organizations and foundations.
Information is available at www.VolunteerFarm.org Volunteer Farm, 277 Crider Lane, Woodstock, VA 22664 (540) 459-3478.
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