Food bank recognizes volunteers, partners

Hoosier Hills Food Bank depends on its volunteers to distribute food to the hungry, and the volunteers do not go unrecognized.

Hoosier Hills Food Bank honored its standout volunteers and partners Tuesday night at the fourth annual Hunger Recognition Awards Ceremony.

The event honored Bloomington Hospital, Mother’s Cupboard, Stranger’s Hill Organics, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., volunteer T.J. Deckard and the Soup Bowl Organizing Committee.

HHFB is an organization that provides food to other agencies so they can distribute it to people in need.

“Collaborating with other agencies is the hallmark of what we do,” HHFB Executive Director Julio Alonso said. In 2009, the organization distributed more than 3 million pounds of food.

And each agency and individual involved — the organization boasts 1,700 volunteers — helps HHFB fulfill its job.

Lugar was honored for developing the “Hoosiers Fighting Hunger” statewide food drive, in which Kroger, Walmart and Marsh worked together to help collect about 12,000 pounds of food for the food banks of Indiana.

Unable to attend the ceremony, Lugar had Mark Doud, a representative from his Indianapolis office, read a letter addressed to Alonso, honorees and guests.
In his letter, Lugar thanked HHFB for the honor and praised the organization for all it has accomplished.

Lugar also said he will remain committed to fighting hunger.

“Please know that I will continue to play an active role in supporting legislation that makes feeding hungry people a priority,” he wrote. “As the Senate prepares to consider legislation that include a variety of tax extensions, I am working with my colleagues to include an extension of the Good Samaritan Hunger Relief Tax Incentive that would allow farmers and small business owners to receive a tax deduction for donating food products to food banks, pantries and homeless shelters.”

The Soup Bowl Benefit also helps HHFB meet its goal. The annual event at the Bloomington Monroe County Convention Center gets artisans to donate soup bowls and restaurants to donate a variety of soups, and people purchase tickets to enjoy the pottery, soup, music and entertainment.  The event raised more than $80,000 in its 16th year, which directly benefits the agency.

HHFB has many community partners, including Stranger’s Hill Organics. At first, Stranger’s Hill Organics had HHFB participate in gleaning, in which volunteers select produce that could not be given to stores — for reasons such as bruising — but is still good enough to eat.

Jessica Williams, garden and gleaning programs coordinator for HHFB, said the owners of the land were happy to see the produce they couldn’t sell go to a good cause. Although seconds are great, Williams said, the owners of Stranger’s Hill Organics offered HHFB half an acre of unused land to grow its own produce.

The farm owners will be increasing the amount of land reserved for HHFB so the organization can continue to grow its own food. In 2009, the garden’s first year, it yielded 5,600 pounds of organic vegetables.

Many organizations assist each other within Monroe County, including the food pantry and food bank Mother’s Cupboard in Brown County.

“Partner agencies link to everything we do,” HHFB Assistant Director Dan Taylor said. “Mother’s Cupboard is not a big place, but they do big things.”

Mother’s Cupboard provides one free meal every day aside from Thanksgiving Day, and it would not be able to do so without HHFB, its main food source, said Mother’s Cupboard Director Jan Metz.

As Metz and Shirley Travelstead, a member of the Mother’s Cupboard board of directors, accepted the awards, Travelstead began to cry.

“I count it a blessing to be a volunteer here,” Travelstead said. “People can come in hungry and receive food, and we do it with no questions asked.”