Hoosier Hills Food Bank surpasses 2012 donations

Hoosier Hills Food Bank has distributed more food so far this year than in all of 2012.
The food bank has given 3,193,845 pounds of food this year, 15 percent more than the 2012 total of 3,187,465, according to a press release.

“The main driving force remains the fact that while we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel for the economy, it hasn’t really gone down as far as the low-income people yet,” said Julio Alonso, executive director of Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

Alonso said there are still many people who have low incomes and have not come out of the recession yet.

Another problem is that in early November, there were reductions in food stamp benefits, which help people already struggling in the market, Alonso said.

“When you reduce their ability to get food at the grocery store and through food stamps, the natural effects drive those folks to emergency and supplemental food providers like food pantries and soup kitchens, and those are the agencies we supply,” Alonso said. “So it’s not unexpected that we would see an increase.”

Hoosier Hills Food Bank might be awarded a $20,000 Hussman Foundation Hunger Relief Challenge Grant.

The Hussman Foundation will give Hoosier Hills Food Bank $20,000 if they can raise that same amount from new or increased donors.

Alonso said the goal of Hoosier Hills is to have the money by May 2014, although they have up to a year to raise the money.

Alonso said they have been able to keep up with the increased demand of food
by getting more food from their retail partners.

“We try to have a diversified base of support for our food so that we’re not overly reliant on one particular source,” Alonso said. “Retail and wholesale donations are an important part of that, and, fortunately, those have been higher this year so that has helped a lot.”

The food bank has also been able to access more food from their national partner, Feeding America.

They have access to food that’s donated on the national level and can access it as long as they pay the transportation cost to Bloomington.

Alonso said during the last several years, the food bank has continued to purchase more food.

“We don’t rely completely on donations anymore,” he said. “We actually purchase the food, help supplement these donations we receive, and we’re continuing to do that with an emphasis on fresh produce.”

Alonso said the holiday season is always busy for the food bank because the partners they work with do more for the holidays.

“They do thanksgiving baskets,” Alonso said. “They do holiday baskets. They do special meals, so they’re usually looking for more food. It’s also a busy time on the other side of things because a lot of folks are thinking about issues like hunger and homelessness during the holidays.”

Vicki Pierce, executive director of Community Kitchen of Monroe County, said they have also experienced an increase in meals served.

The number of meals served at the soup kitchen has gone up almost 10 percent this year.

 Pierce said they expect to hit another record by the end of the year.

“When something bad happens in the economy it takes longer for the need to hit us because people don’t come to a soup kitchen until they kind of exhausted all their other options,” Pierce said.

She said at this point it also becomes harder for people to get back on their feet.

“By the time people need to utilize a service like ours, they are usually in it for a longer period of time,” Pierce said. “It’s not a situation usually they bounce back from in a month.”

Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.