Foodbanking facts and myths

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   0

Foodbanking facts and myths

Debunking some of the most common misconceptions about visiting pantries and easing the stigma around food assistance

By: Emily Gallion, Grants & Advocacy Manager and Caitlyn McIntosh, Development Manager

It can be intimidating to seek food assistance for the first time — but the experience doesn’t have to be scary. Last year, 935,404 total people received food through a Foodbank program. While we are aware of the stigma associated with visiting a pantry, our team is here to make the process as comfortable as possible.

Today, we will debunk some of the most common myths about hunger and visiting food pantries.

MYTH: A food bank is the same as a food pantry

FACT: Food banks serve as a central warehouse for a network of hunger relief organizations, including food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters. While some food banks may have an on-site food pantry, the two are not the same. Generally, a food bank is an organization responsible for acquiring and distributing food to smaller organizations, while food pantries provide groceries directly to families. The Foodbank acquires and distributes food to a network of 116 of these hunger relief agencies. Visit www.thefoodbankdayton.org/needfood to find one nearest you.

 

MYTH: You have to apply to receive food from The Foodbank

FACT: While some Foodbank programs, such as the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), require an application, you do not need to submit an application to attend our Drive Thru Food Pantry. The only requirement to receive food at our Drive Thru or off site food distributions is a driver’s license (if available) and a verbal acknowledgement that your income is within the guidelines for receiving food. Typically, anyone living at or below 200% of the federal poverty limit is eligible to receive food from The Foodbank. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this threshold was lifted to 230%. To see if you meet the guidelines, click here.

 

MYTH: The Foodbank is primarily funded by tax dollars

FACT: Like most nonprofit organizations, the bulk of our funding comes from generous donations from the general public. While we receive agricultural surplus food from the USDA’s The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), this product generally accounts for under 20% of the food we distribute.

 

MYTH: Everyone who visits a food pantry is unemployed

FACT: According to Feeding America’s most recent Hunger in America study, over half of households that visited a pantry or hot meal site had one or more members who were employed in the past 12 months. You do not need to be receiving unemployment or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to receive food from The Foodbank.

 

MYTH: We are the only place for you to get food in Dayton

FACT: The Foodbank provides food for a network of 116 partner agencies in Montgomery, Greene, and Preble counties. The Foodbank’s Drive Thru and Mobile Pantries are designed to supplement the hard work of these organizations. For that reason, the food you receive through these distributions may not be “complete” groceries, but will be bonus food to complement the food you receive from your local pantry. We encourage all of our clients to find their local pantry, which may have a greater variety of food on hand, at www.thefoodbankdayton.org/needfood.

 

MYTH: You can only visit The Foodbank once a month

FACT: The only service limit at The Foodbank is once per day. The Foodbank operates a Drive Thru pantry three days a week as well as 16 different mobile pantries each month. While each Foodbank agency has its own service limit, we invite our clients to use our services as often as needed, up to once per day. For a full list of drive thru hours and mobile pantry locations, click here.

 

MYTH: Food banks and food pantries really only provide canned goods — not fresh foods such as vegetables

FACT: All hunger relief organizations aim to provide nutritious foods to sustain a healthy life. A large majority of our food comes from retail donors, which means we receive a wide variety of items such as bakery, frozen meat, seafood, and lots of fresh produce. At The Foodbank we are also lucky enough to have a 75 raised bed urban garden that allows us to grow our own fresh produce and distribute it directly to the community. 

 

MYTH: Families that receive the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — aka food stamps — don’t need more help with groceries

FACT: The average monthly SNAP benefit for a one-person household was $131 in fiscal year 2020. SNAP provides supplemental assistance, but does not typically cover the cost of a family’s entire grocery budget. Many households need additional support to make ends meet.

 

MYTH: Fraud is widespread among SNAP recipients

FACT: According to the USDA, over 99% of people who receive SNAP benefits are eligible for the program. SNAP has low rates of abuse and provides critical support to our work. For every meal distributed by a Feeding America food bank, SNAP provides 12.

 

We are always working towards breaking the stigmas of seeking food assistance and ensuring that it is a comfortable, approachable process. 

While we try to stay consistent, our service hours are subject to change, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve. For up-to-date information, double-check at www.thefoodbankdayton.org/needfood or follow us @thefoodbankinc on Facebook!

Closing out a historic fiscal year at The Foodbank

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   0

Closing out a historic fiscal year at The Foodbank

Amidst the ongoing recovery from the 2019 tornado outbreak and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Foodbank distributed more food than ever before

By: Emily Gallion, Grant and Advocacy Manager, and Caitlyn McIntosh, Development Manager

Despite an unusually challenging year, The Foodbank was able to distribute 17,884,642 pounds of food in our 2020 fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.

Over one third of the food distributed by weight was fresh produce. With it, we were able to provide food to 116 partner agencies in our three-county network and serve a total of 935,404 people.

It’s hard to believe over a year has passed since the 2019 Memorial Day tornado outbreak. The storm left over $1 billion in property damage and at least 1,800 without homes. While the disaster struck a month before the beginning of the fiscal year, recovery has been slow, and the destruction is still visible in many parts of our community. Read about our tornado relief response here.

It’s even harder to believe that just one year after the storm, our community would be living through a mass shooting and a pandemic. It has been a challenging year,  but we are honored to have been able to serve our community through it.

Here are some highlights from the past year at The Foodbank:

Drive Thru fills critical gaps in COVID-19 response

A line of cars forms outside The Foodbank’s Drive Thru Food Pantry on a rainy distribution day.

Our on-site drive thru was built in 2018 as an accessible distribution site for our Senior Box Program. While we saw potential in the drive-thru to expand our distribution capabilities, we didn’t know just how critical it would be in our disaster relief efforts.

Early March was an extremely difficult time for us at The Foodbank. The spread of COVID-19 and mandatory social distancing measures forced us to rethink nearly every aspect of our operations.

We typically host Mobile Farmers Markets at 27 different sites each month, but the high attendance at these events makes social distancing difficult to enforce. Sadly, we had to suspend these distributions for nearly three months.

Additionally, we could no longer visit our 18 Senior Box distribution sites due to safety precautions at the living facilities. With all of these operations canceled, we were left with one way to get food out of the building and onto the tables of our community — our on-site Drive Thru Food Pantry.

Immediately, we saw attendance rates spike to levels we have never seen before. Before the pandemic began, our Drive Thru was averaging about 200-300 households per distribution. That number skyrocketed to 600-700 households per day, peaking at a record breaking 750 households on April 22nd.

This was an incredible year for the Drive Thru, which served a total of 37,249 households and distributed 3,467,113 pounds of food. It is an essential service that aids in our confidence that Miami Valley residents can always turn to us no matter the circumstance.

 

Mobile Farmers Markets distribute record-high number of meals despite COVID-related cancellations

Like nearly all aspects of our operations, our Mobile Farmers Market program was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We were forced to temporarily suspend our Mobile Farmers Markets March 12 to limit the spread of the virus.

After developing a plan to enforce social distancing, which included additional staffing to keep our families six feet apart, we were able to reopen on a limited basis starting in June.

After carefully evaluating each Mobile site to ensure our ability to enforce social distancing and reach all areas in our territory, we selected 11 sites to reopen first. We are continuing to evaluate the course of the pandemic as well as food insecurity projections in our area to determine our next courses of action.

While our almost three-month closure certainly affected our metrics, this has still been a very successful year for our Mobile Farmers Market program. Through this program alone, we were able to distribute a total of 1,848,453.7 pounds of food to families in our three-county service area — an increase of 73,990.5 pounds from the previous year!

We would like to thank our generous donors and volunteers for supporting our work in the past year. Last year, a total of 5,414 volunteers spent 13,600 hours with us. We couldn’t do it without your help! Follow our social media accounts @thefoodbankinc for future announcements on volunteer opportunities. While we are still not allowing volunteers on-site due to the severity of the pandemic, we hope to see you all soon.

It has been a record breaking year here at The Foodbank and we are hopeful for what the future holds. This year has challenged us in ways we never thought possible and proven our true resiliency as a team and a community. If you want to read more about our service area, hunger statistics, or our economic impact, visit our Tri-County Impact Statement on our website.

Foodbanking in the time of COVID-19

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   0

Foodbanking in the time of COVID-19

Pandemics disproportionately affect the people in our lines. Here’s what we’re doing to help.

By: Caitlyn McIntosh, Development Manager, and Emily Gallion, Grant and Advocacy Manager

Last week, concerns about COVID-19, a form of coronavirus, reached a fever pitch as the Ohio Department of Health announced the state’s first three positive cases. Since then, efforts to contain the pandemic led to school closings, orders to limit public gatherings, and even the suspension of voting in the state of Ohio. 

For weeks, the health and well-being of our clients, staff, and volunteers has been at the forefront of our minds as we monitor the spread of this pandemic. We have had to make very difficult choices to suspend or modify many of our offsite services, but we are making every possible effort to make sure our clients have access to the food they need.

In these trying times, we would like to commend the leadership of Governor Mike DeWine, who has made strong moves to limit the spread of the virus. Many early actions, including the closures of schools, bars, and restaurants, have provided a model for other states trying to respond to the epidemic. We are glad to see our leaders taking this virus seriously.

Background on COVID-19

COVID-19 is a form of coronavirus, a family of viruses that are zoonotic, or transmitted between animals and people. Coronaviruses have been responsible for deadly outbreaks in the past, including MERS and SARS, but COVID-19 is a new strand thought to have originated from bats. Many initial infections were traced to a large market in Wuhan, China.

Seniors and people with pre-existing conditions are at a heightened risk of becoming seriously ill as a result of this disease, but people of any age can become sick with or transmit the virus. According to the CDC, early data suggests that seniors are twice as likely to have a serious illness because of the virus.

This reality became chillingly clear when COVID-19 swept through a nursing home in a Seattle suburb, causing the deaths of 18 residents. Older adults are at an increased risk due to weakened immune systems and the increased likelihood of pre-existing conditions. The National Council on Aging stated that “age increases the risk that the respiratory system or lungs will shut down when an older person has COVID-19 disease.”

Families with small children can take comfort in the fact that, unlike influenza, COVID-19 does not seem to cause a serious threat to children. In fact, children and young adults are more likely to carry the disease with no symptoms at all. However, these populations should still take part in healthy practices as they could transmit it to someone else who may not have a strong immune system.

Symptoms of COVID-19 are similar to that of the flu virus and the common cold. Both viruses are potentially dangerous to high-risk populations, and individuals who experience difficulty breathing should seek emergency treatment regardless of known COVID-19 exposure.

What does this mean for people in our lines?

One risk factor for the disease may not be immediately apparent: Analysis of past disease outbreaks, such as influenza, reveals that pandemics often disproportionately affect people who are living in poverty. 

One study of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak found that, in Oaklahoma, 26 percent of white individuals who contracted the virus needed hospitalization, compared to 55 percent of black patients and 37 percent of indigenous patients. 

In many ways, this is common sense: People with low incomes are more likely to work part-time jobs that do not offer benefits such as paid sick leave and healthcare. People living in poverty and people of color are also more likely to live in areas with high population density, which increases the likelihood that they will be infected.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than one third of private-sector employees in the lowest wage category have access to paid sick leave

Luckily, employees whose employment is affected by the outbreak may be eligible for additional unemployment relief. This will be especially important for employees of the restaurants, gyms, bars, and other businesses that have been ordered to close. 

Workers who are required to self-isolate will be eligible for unemployment benefits even if they do not test positive for the virus. Many restrictions on unemployment benefits, including the usual waiting period for benefits to kick in, have also been waived.

Workers who need to apply for unemployment benefits can file online at unemployment.ohio.gov

This pandemic is a stark reminder that almost half of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, which means a loss of income due to quarantines or business closures can be catastrophic. It also decreases these households’ ability to stockpile food, water, and other necessities.

School closures are also incredibly disruptive to families’ day to day life, as workers who cannot afford childcare may be forced to stay home. Closing schools can also impact children’s cognitive development at an extremely crucial stage in life.

Encouragingly, many school districts have already begun to offer carryout school meals. Governor Mike DeWine confirmed on March 13 that the United States Department of Agriculture approved Ohio’s waiver to allow carryout meals in school.

So, what are we doing about all of this?

In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, it may be difficult trying to follow the constant news updates and safety precautions. At The Foodbank, people are the most important resource, so it is our duty to ensure that we are serving our vulnerable populations in the safest way possible. 

Unfortunately, the spread of COVID-19 has a tremendous impact both on the population we serve and our own operations.

Due to Governor Mike DeWine’s orders of limiting public gatherings to less than 100 people, we had to make the difficult decision to cancel our mobile food pantries for the time being. Clients are actively being guided towards our weekly drive thru pantries.

To meet any additional needs due to the cancellation of our mobiles, we have expanded our drive thru operations to running three times a week. Additionally, we moved to serving families once a month in effort to keep up with high demand. 

Since the outbreak of the virus, our drive thru went from serving an average of 350 families per day to over 400 per day. As news changes by the day, we are always looking for ways to update our services with the community’s safety in mind.

We have made the decision to target low-income seniors with this box program because they are the population at highest risk for death or serious illness as a result of this virus. We also know that many of our seniors are homebound or on a fixed income, which makes it more difficult for them to visit the supermarket or stockpile emergency supplies. 

Because we have had to suspend offsite distributions of our CSFP boxes, we have added additional drive thru distributions to serve those clients directly at our warehouse. Seniors enrolled in the program can visit our drive thru March 24 or March 26 between the hours of 9 am and 3 pm to pick up both their senior food boxes and their additional COVID-19 emergency boxes.

If you are looking for a way to help out, The Foodbank is still actively seeking volunteers. We currently have an increased need due to high demand in the drive thru and the volume of emergency boxes we are trying to package.

If you want to volunteer at The Foodbank, please make an appointment prior by calling (937) 461-0265 x31. We are enacting several safety measures to protect our volunteers, staff, and clients, including:

  • Limiting walk-in traffic to The Foodbank by locking our doors
  • Taking the temperature of all volunteers and staff who enter our building
  • Requiring all volunteers to wash their hands prior to the start of their shift
  • Asking volunteers and staff not to bring outside food into the building
  • Asking any volunteers over the age of 60 to stay home

Thank you donors!

It is always heartening to see our community come together at difficult times such as that. We would like to extend our thanks to the people who have volunteered or donated in the past several weeks. In times like this, every little bit counts.

We would especially like to thank Caresource, who committed $128,000 in funding to provide additional food boxes to our at-risk seniors currently enrolled in our CSFP program. This funding will be used to prepare 1,200 boxes, each of which will contain enough food to last 14 days. We hope these boxes, which we are currently building and distribute, will help this high-risk population practice social distancing in the coming weeks.

To follow along with The Foodbank’s response efforts, follow us on our social media channels @thefoodbankinc and our website for further updates.