FOOD FOR THOUGHT May 2023

“One hungry person is one too many.” It’s worse if that hungry person is a child. By last count Feeding America estimates there are approximately 18,000 young people about to enter summer vacation hungry in our four-county service area. With school out, the safety net of school lunch, breakfast in the classroom, snack pack programs and school pantries are not available. I often tell people there is no slow time of the year for hunger. It never takes a break. However, summer vacation time puts additional stress on families and our partner agencies.  

I remember as a child looking forward to summer vacation. Time off from school meant days of baseball or swimming with friends. Carefree days in the sun. But every one of those days ended with me going home to a nutritious home cooked meal. My mom always had enough for all of my friends who wanted to stay and have some of whatever she had fixed that day. Like I said, I looked forward to summer vacation. Hungry children do not have that luxury. In many cases they are afraid of how they will survive while school is out. Where will the food come from? You can help us stock our partner agencies for the increased summer need. Thank you for helping us prepare.

This morning I had the opportunity to be the program at a local civic group. I shared with them some information about the current Food Bank, the work we do and talked a little about the future which includes the new Center for Hunger Relief. During the question period, one of the members asked “what is your most pressing need?” I responded with “knowledge”. Knowledge and understanding by the community that there is a food insecurity problem. I think he was surprised that I didn’t say more donations or more volunteers but that I emphasized that I needed more people to know why we do what we do. Later in the day I ran into an old friend who I had not seen for several years. I was sharing this story with him and he suggested that we all have on blinders and until an issue touches us directly, we don’t necessarily pay attention. He’s right. But food insecurity does touch us all.

We want to give a huge THANK YOU to the NCR Corporation for their continued support of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

They donated more than 450 pounds of cereal to the Food Bank in December. Putting a fun spin on things, the local NCR team created a video of a cereal box domino train and the journey from their offices to our warehouse.

The cereal video won a company-wide global social media competition, and the team was awarded a grant.

On May 3rd, they donated the $50,000 competition grant to the Food Bank for the Center for Hunger Relief. The team also spent the morning volunteering with us, providing 6,163 meals by packing boxes for our Mobile Pantry program. We are so grateful for your support!

The food pantry at Harmon United Methodist Church, which started in 2005, serves anyone seeking help with food. Volunteers build boxes according to each family’s size and needs.

If a family has limited storage space or does not have working appliances, the pantry also takes that into consideration. Boxes include a variety of foods like canned goods, frozen meat, produce and shelf-stable foods such as cereal and pasta.

Harmon UMC’s pantry is welcoming to all and focuses on building relationships with families in the community.

Nina and Shirley, pantry volunteers, said their goal is to serve families in a rural area where there are not many other options.

“God provides and we help each other,” Nina said.

Harmon UMC’s pantry is open on the 3rd Wednesday of the month from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at 19032 Harmon Road just outside of Tontitown. For more information, visit www.harmonumc.org.

“(The chicken patties) are easy to cook and quick,” she said. “I bake or fry them, cut them up in a salad or put them in stir fry.”

Whenever Liddy is able, she donates to Bread of Life. “If I’m going to be taking, I want to give back,” she said.

Bread of Life is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at 212 W. Emma Ave. in Springdale. They can be contacted at 479-751-4610.Economic hardship rarely affects one part of a person’s life. Often the dominoes come crashing down on your housing, food, and other necessities, leaving you to pick up the pieces and start again.

When Liddy fell into a hard economic situation a few years ago, she “had to, literally by the grace of God and luck, learn how to survive,” she said.

After experiencing homelessness and spending three years on the waiting list for Section 8 housing, she now has a place in Fayetteville and receives SNAP benefits.

“Through the luck of the draw,” Liddy said, she was connected to a social worker who told her about SSI, which helped her receive additional income due to her disability.

Going from financially secure with no worries about budgeting to watching every penny “was a reality check for me,” she said.

As she learned more about the systems of poverty assistance, Liddy became determined to help her neighbors in similar circumstances.

Whether it’s sharing food pantry offerings or community services, Liddy wants to help her neighbors find the resources they need to thrive.

“I won’t just keep it to myself,” she said. “I’ll share it.”