The dim fluorescent lights make the Hoosier Hills Food Bank warehouse an undesirable place on a day like today. Vacant from a lack of food, Hoosier Hills Executive Director Julio Alonso looks over his uninviting depot, sadly realizing this is one of the trying times over the course of a year.\nWithin the last two years, Hoosier Hills has had to begin to buy food rather than rely on donations – food Indiana desperately needs.\nWhile the donations have increased over the years – partially because of the success of Hoosier Hills’ food drives such as the Soup Bowl, which earned almost $70,000 in 2007 – so has the number of Hoosiers going hungry.\n“The demand has just been going through the roof, and it’s been really hard for us to keep up,” Alonso said. “We’re not unusual; we’re hearing this from food banks across \nthe country.” \nHunger pangs
In the past year, Alonso, who has worked at Hoosier Hills for two years, said the food bank distributed 42 percent more food than it did the prior year. The need for food is becoming exponentially larger each year, and this is the time of year when those numbers hit home the hardest.\nThe food bank provides food for six counties across southern Indiana. More than 31,000 people living in Alonso’s jurisdiction are considered poverty stricken. And incredibly, the food bank manages to reach 20,000 people each month – with only five full-time workers.\n“One of the best parts of this job is to see change as it is happening,” said Sarah Owen, Hoosier Hills USDA coordinator. “It’s very reassuring.”\nIt’s not as if Hoosier Hills is experiencing a drought. Over the course of its 25 years of service to southern Indiana, the food bank sometimes sees its warehouses busting at the seams depending on the season. But during this time of year, empty warehouses are an all too common sight for the not-for-profit.\nDuring the Christmas season, the demand for food reaches its peak. But what Hoosier Hills is trying to do now is make people understand hunger is not a seasonal problem – it’s a yearlong epidemic.\n“We had a great holiday season, which is terrific,” Alonso said. “A lot of times in the past, we’ve gotten so much food from those holiday drives that it’s carried over into the next year. That’s not really happening anymore because the food is going out so quickly.”\nAlonso said it hasn’t gotten to a point where the food bank has considered closing its doors. In fact, the 25-year-old agency is still going strong, he said, crediting Bloomington’s residents.\n“We’re fortunate that we live in a very generous community,” Alonso said. “Unfortunately, it still hasn’t quite kept up. We’re just trying to be more proactive in making sure the community understands this problem exists.”\nThere isn’t an overly high unemployment rate in Bloomington – only 4.5 percent as of January this year. Nationally, Indiana ranks 27th lowest in unemployment rates. \nInstead, there’s serious underemployment. Underemployment includes citizens who aren’t making enough money to get by or whose jobs don’t qualify them for health insurance.\nMost of these people are working class, Alonso said.\nWith this in mind, Owen understands the value of getting food to impoverished residents of southern Indiana. The food bank preaches healthy food and good nutrition for its recipients but is not willing to forego all “junk” food because they don’t want to see people go hungry.\n“Unfortunately, some of the food that is sent to the food bank isn’t the healthiest,” Owen said. “But we have to bear in mind that the number one thing is that somebody doesn’t go to bed hungry – even if it is Ramen noodles.”
Hands that feed
Bill Withers belts out his song – “Lean on Me” – from the boom box in the food bank’s warehouse, and his words couldn’t ring truer.\nEspecially when motivated volunteers are singing along.\nThirty Elgin High School students from Illinois’ northern suburbs pack boxes with non-perishable food for Hoosier Hills. For the second consecutive year, the group made the trip to help out food banks ranging from Illinois to Tennessee. For five days, the students worked on personal development and participated in community service.\n“You see people step out of their comfort zone and become a leader,” said Elgin High School junior Kathy Grimmette. “Last year, everyone showed these kids that we could make a difference.”\nOnly in high school, the students – who act more like they’re in a church youth group than a school club – realize the power of helping someone less fortunate than they are.\nFor senior Abe Lopez, one of the leaders of the group, optimism is the driving force behind such projects.\n“It’s just that one instance where a student realizes that they can make a difference that makes this trip worth it,” Lopez said. “That instance where they say, ‘I can do this, I can impact someone’s life by carrying a box for people that \nneed help.’”\nOwen looks on at the hard-working adolescents, who give up their free time for people they might never meet, knowing firsthand what it’s like to help someone in need.\nEvery now and then, Owen delivers food to some of the food bank’s regulars as a part of her job.\n“There’s this one woman, in particular, at one of my sites,” she said. “Every time she writes her name on the list, she writes a thank you note with it and it just shows how much it matters to them.” \n \nMore mouths to feed
Ultimately, Alonso wants to see the food bank expand. When the agency receives vast amounts of food at other times during the year, its current warehouse is simply too small to hold it all. Instead, it has to rent 11,000 square feet from a warehouse on Bloomington’s west side.\nA new building is in the planning stages, and a figure that has been proposed for the new space is 25,000 \nsquare feet.\nThe new space will cost $2 million, a price Alonso is working to raise and believes is necessary to help end hunger. Even though the amount of food the food bank takes in fluctuates during the year, the new space is needed so Hoosier Hills won’t be forced to continue renting warehouses. But for now, the current building will have to do.\nThe growing number of clients at the food bank disturbs Alonso. All he wants is to see the hunger figures reverse and make sure people go to bed with a satisfied stomach.\n“We know that we are reaching a lot of people,” Alonso said, “but we also know there are a lot of people who aren’t being reached.”
