FEEDING HOPE
Food Bank of Northern Nevada brings innovative solutions to the table.
WRITTEN BY JESSICA SANTINA
PHOTOS BY CANDICE NYANDO
Cherie Jamason, President and CEO of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, stands beside
a new shipment of potatoes at the facility
Due to the recession, hunger in America has drastically increased, and locally, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada is making a huge impact on the issue. The organization distributed 10.5 million pounds of food to hungry Nevadans in 2011, a 30 percent increase over the previous year. In addition, the food bank has provided more than 70 percent more emergency food assistance since 2007.
Having relocated to its 65,000-square-foot Fernley warehouse space in July of 2008, the food bank is more equipped to feed that growing need. Still, according to Marketing and Communications Manager Jocelyn Lantrip, despite a 20 percent increase in refrigeration and freezer capacity over its previous facility, the food bank still can barely keep up with the burgeoning need.
Feeding Bodies and Minds
With need this pervasive, the food bank, under the direction of President and CEO Cherie Jamason, is constantly evolving and developing new approaches to reach greater numbers of people. This is evident in its large roster of programs to both feed and educate children, adults, and seniors throughout Northern Nevada; its 130 partner agencies that work directly with residents in need; its innovative methods of obtaining foods; and its distribution methods, involving 10 trucks and a system to maximize the trucks’ coverage area while minimizing delivery time.
For one, according to food bank leaders, 18.5 percent of Nevada’s children don’t have enough to eat. Thus, programs that specifically address hunger among children include Kids Café, an after-school program providing a half-hour period after school for kids to eat for free. Food bank managers expanded this program by offering the first high school Kids Café. It opened at Hug High School in Reno in 2011 and currently feeds more than 100 children per school day. The summer food program held at local parks fills the summertime feeding gap, requiring attendees only to be under 18 and hungry.
In addition, the Back-Pack Kids program provides food to elementary and middle school children at risk of hunger outside of school. The backpacks, distributed discreetly, provide three or four simple meals and snacks for a weekend.
“Two and a half years ago, we were providing 400 backpacks a week in Washoe County,” Lantrip says. “We’re doing over 1,000 a week now.”
Seniors are another big focus area. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program provides seniors 60 and older with packages of food containing nutrients typically lacking in that population’s diet.
To reach all communities (urban to rural), the food bank distributes through food pantries around the region, helping to provide access to groceries and emergency food assistance at locations close to home. The Mobile Pantry takes that idea on the road.
On the education front, the Smart Shopper program provides nutrition, shopping, budgeting, and food safety information to food stamp-eligible families. The Food Smarts program brings food bank staff members into schools to teach kids about making healthy food choices. One component of the Smart Shopper program is educating parents about spending their money wisely on more healthful food, which addresses the link between poverty and the nation’s obesity epidemic.
“There’s a lot of press about obesity in this country, and it’s definitely an issue, but one thing that’s not always talked about is that it’s indeed linked to poverty. Because a lot of junk food is cheap,” Lantrip says. “And if you’re a parent and you have children who aren’t getting enough to eat, and you have a dollar, you can buy a hamburger or an apple. And you’ll probably buy the hamburger, because it’s more filling. So that has a lot to do with the obesity epidemic.”
The food bank facility, next to the Walmart Distribution Center in Fernley, can hold 348 pallets of food in its refrigerator and freezer. This enables food bank employees to store fresh produce, meat, bread, and dairy products donated by Walmart or picked up in its Fresh Rescue program, which collects perishables from grocery stores just prior to expiration. The food bank also gets donations from local farmers; Lantrip pointed to a bin of apples in the refrigerated packing room that came from a local farm.
“Over half of what we distributed in our last year was perishable,” she says, “which a lot of people don’t realize about a food bank.”
Leading the Way
“One of the things that keeps this work so interesting is that the food bank keeps adding programs,” Jamason says. “Every three to five years it seems to be a new organization.”
Jamason moved to Northern Nevada in the late 1980s from New England, and has had an interest in global hunger issues throughout her career, beginning with her work for The Hunger Project.
“When I came here, the food bank was about five years old,” she says of the organization that started in 1981. Local leaders were looking for ways to grow the organization, and she was able to bring her skills and interests to the organization. “I feel like I help people every day.”
Since Jamason came on board, the food bank has grown from three staff members to 50, and from serving 8,000 people in 1988 to 190,000 in 2011.
She spearheaded the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), or food stamps, outreach program, in which food bank staffers help community members in need access SNAP benefits.
“Cherie spent quite a bit of time at the legislature in order to get us to be able to do the interview, which has to be face-to-face,” Lantrip says. “People used to have to go to the welfare office, but now our employees can do that. It took about 18 months to get that legislation through, but we knew it would help. And as Cherie says, it helps the economy, too. Now food banks across the country are doing that, but we were one of the first.”
Jamason’s passions now are to increase discussion about community food security and to provide all residents with adequate access to food and food stamps.
Hungry for Help
According to Lantrip, spring and summer are the slowest seasons for food donations, and food drives are needed year-round.
To meet the growing need and comply with rules governing several of its federally funded programs, the food bank also must purchase food. Projections at the end of 2011 were that organization leaders needed to purchase about $700,000 worth of food just for emergency feeding. For every dollar donated, the food bank, through negotiating bulk purchases, can provide four meals.
Donations of food and money are encouraged, and community members are invited to use its boardrooms for free, in exchange for a tour to learn about what the food bank does.
“It’s a nice facility, and a nice way to get education out there,” Lantrip says. “Cherie [Jamason] says this a lot: ‘It’s the community’s food bank, not just ours.'”
To learn more about the Food Bank of Northern Nevada’s programs and services or to volunteer or donate, visit www.Fbnn.org.
Jessica Santina is a freelance writer and editor, and a first-year writing instructor at the University of Nevada, Reno and University of Phoenix. She’s thankful her own daughter isn’t among the area’s hungry children, and she is determined to donate food and money this year to help those who are.
