In Detroit, finding a way to reach out to the peripheries

 

New van will help Order of Malta reach Detroit's peripheries with food, kindness

Newly blessed vehicle will deliver clothing, sandwiches to the homeless, transport guests to Malta Dental and Medical Clinic

BIRMINGHAM — Three days a week, men, women and children who can’t get enough to eat make their way to the All Saints Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry on Detroit’s west side, which serves hot meals and offers groceries to those who otherwise can’t afford them.

Some of those families can’t afford medical or dental insurance, either, and many are in dire need of care — often having put off treatment for far too long.

The Malta Dental and Medical and Clinic, a free clinic that’s served low-income Detroiters’ needs since 2004, seeks to address this need, offering vital services free of charge to those without insurance.

The only problem? The soup kitchen is six miles away from the clinic, which operates out of Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan’s Center for the Works of Mercy in Detroit’s Midtown. And if you can't afford food, you likely can't afford a car, either.

To bridge that gap, the local Order of Malta is enlisting the help of a new cargo van, courtesy of Malta Mobile Ministries, which will help transport guests to and from the clinic, as well as serve a host of other needs as the order steps up its efforts to aid Detroiters.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron blessed the new van Aug. 14, the vigil of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, during a “Lourdes Experience” gathering of the Order of Malta at Holy Name Parish in Birmingham.

“Like Our Lady, we too have the vocation to carry Christ to other people,” Archbishop Vigneron, a member of the Order of Malta, said during a homily prior to the blessing. “(The analogy) is a little far-fetched, but the van is a little like an Ark of the Covenant. It is a way to carry the compassion of Christ to other people. And the foundation of this is faith.”

Attending the Mass and blessing were Peter Kelly, president of the Order of Malta’s American Association, and Deacon Jeffrey Trexler, the American Association’s executive director.

Malta Mobile Ministries is a separate nonprofit that collaborates with the Order of Malta’s three U.S. associations, said Deacon Trexler, speaking to Detroit Catholic after the blessing. The order’s Western Association began the program several years ago with a fleet of vehicles serving parishes, food pantries and bringing medical and first-aid services to disaster victims, including serving those displaced by the California wildfires.

Three years ago, the Order of Malta’s American Association, which includes Michigan, joined the program with its first van operating in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. A second van was soon added in New Jersey.

“This is our third van,” Deacon Trexler told Detroit Catholic. “Hopefully by next year, we’ll have maybe three more vans on board for different areas of the United States. We have 30 chapters (in the American Association), and they all seem to be interested in this. Hopefully in the next five years, we’ll have a fleet of 30.”

Tom Larabell, president of the Malta Dental and Medical Clinic, said the van will serve a great need in the city of Detroit, transporting low-income residents to and from the clinic, as well as serving other local ministries.

The van will also be used to deliver sandwiches, clothing and boots to the homeless living on Detroit’s streets through the Order of Malta’s “Into the Fire” ministry, which began about 10 years ago through St. Leo’s Soup Kitchen, Larabell said.

"We've got a very active chapter, so our American Association asked us if we would do this," Larabell said. "Our first thought was to pick people up who can't come to the clinic, and we have another ministry, 'Into the Fire,' where we make sandwiches and deliver them on the street, along with clothing in the wintertime."

The van has been retrofitted with shelving, clothing racks and supplies to help the ministry serve in a variety of circumstances. Larabell added the van won’t just serve those living on the streets, but anyone living in the city of Detroit who needs help.

“Recently, we went to visit the Missionaries of Charity sisters on Detroit’s southwest side, and I told the nuns we were looking for places where people hang out,” Larabell said. “We told them we have the medical and dental clinic, and that we only treat people who have no insurance and no money. One of the nuns answered and said, ‘Well, we don’t have insurance. We don’t have money.’ So we’ve even transported the nuns to their appointments.”

Larabell said the Malta Dental and Medical Clinic is working on a service schedule for the van, which has already begun to serve Detroit residents.

In addition to serving those in need, the van — emblazoned with the Order of Malta’s red shield — will help Detroiters more readily recognize the order, which serves many different ministries in the Archdiocese of Detroit, Deacon Trexler said.

“The order isn’t as familiar to people in the United States as it is in Europe,” said Deacon Trexler, who serves in the Diocese of Allentown, Pa. “In Europe, we have hospitals and multiple clinics, orphanages, nursing homes and ambulance services in communities that have nothing. So this is good PR for the order.”

Locally, in addition to the Malta Dental and Medical Clinic and the “Into the Fire” ministry, the order also operates or serves at St. Leo’s Soup Kitchen in Detroit; Angels’ Place, a home for developmentally disabled individuals in Southfield; Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, a local pro-life apostolate; Mary’s Children Family Center in Clawson, which serves those with brain injuries; and the Rose Hill Center in Holly, a comprehensive psychiatric treatment program for adults with serious mental illnesses.

The order each year also sponsors a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, bringing Detroit-area malades — the French word for sick person — to the healing shrines of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“So this van is letting people know that the order exists and we’re here to serve,” Deacon Trexler said. “It’s the charism of our order: to defend the faith and to care for those in need.”

Inflation impacts food banks and pantries

 

CATHOLIC FOOD PANTRIES STRUGGLE WITH DEMAND AS INFLATION SOARS

by Jonah McKeown, Katie Yoder

CNA Newsroom, Aug 20, 2022 / 12:30 pm

Amid the highest levels of inflation seen in the United States in four decades, food pantries across the country — many of which are run by Catholics — are seeing an increased demand for their services.

Catholic food pantries serve millions of Americans across the country — Catholics and non-Catholics alike — every year. For people in need, they make the difference between having food on the table and going hungry.

“If it were not for this pantry, there would have been times when we would not have had food,” said LaShanda Davis, a security officer who receives help from the Guadalupe Center food pantry in Houston, Texas.

Now, under the weight of inflation, many pantries are struggling. Grocery prices jumped nearly 11% in July 2022 compared to the previous year. Those increases impact the food pantries themselves as well as their customers.

One food bank in St. Louis saw its monthly grocery bill more than double in recent months. In Chicago, the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels food pantry said the number of families seeking help increased by 50% since last summer. And one of Louisiana’s largest food banks is reporting that the number of needy people seeking its services is increasing by 5% every month. Catholic Charities organizations in both Nashville and Gallup, New Mexico, also told CNA that their food pantries have seen a substantial increase in demand since the start of 2022.

People are turning to these food pantries not only for food but also for help with other needs, a spokesperson for the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston told CNA. These include clothing, school supplies, rental and utility assistance, employment guidance, and education.

While demand at the pantries does not appear to be quite as sky-high as it was during the initial COVID-19 crisis in 2020, inflation seems to have created a more sustained high demand.

Haley Calabro, director of the St. Augustine Wellston Center in St. Louis, told CNA that they typically served 300-400 people before the start of the COVID crisis, and a record 1,400 in April 2020, but that number eventually went back down again to typical levels as the pandemic wore on. They are serving around 840 people a month now, she said.

A NATIONAL LOOK

Catholic Charities, whose agencies manage over 1,000 food banks and pantries across all 50 states and five U.S. territories, serves over 8.4 million individuals each year.

Jane Stenson, the vice president of poverty reduction programs and services at Catholic Charities USA, told CNA that “many agencies have stated that they are having difficulty keeping food on the shelves.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food inflation in the United States hit 10.9% in July 2022, the highest since May 1979. Food-at-home prices — meaning the cost of food at the grocery store — increased by 13.1%.

Stenson spoke about the impact of the current economic climate and inflation, noting that some corporate donations of food products have dried up, since it is more expedient for them to sell their products for a good price.

In addition, many of their individual donors — on which many food pantries rely — are not giving or are giving less, “since everyone is dealing with inflation,” she said.

Dave Barringer, national CEO of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, told CNA that during the pandemic “we did not see an increase in food needs as much as a need to get food to people in different, safer, ways,” such as with contactless methods of food distribution. SVDP mobilizes hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the country, arranged into local groups called conferences, to provide various kinds of aid to the poor through personal encounters.

Now, Barringer says, the needs they see among the people they serve are primarily financial.

“They tell us that wages are up, but not enough to meet the increased costs of energy, especially gasoline and home energy,” Barringer explained. “Their food costs are skyrocketing, so food pantry essentials stretch what they can afford on their own … They come to us first, and then supplement at the grocery store.”

Barringer said they have also seen a trend toward family members moving in with each other in larger numbers to save money on rent, more people working multiple jobs, and many undocumented immigrant families who are unable to receive social assistance because of their legal status.

Barringer recognized the importance of food pantries, but emphasized that they are “only band-aids for families in need.”

“We can’t as Catholics give enough food (or school backpacks or anything else) away to solve this economic problem, we can only ease the pain,” he said. “The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is focusing on systemic change solutions such as financial literacy, workforce development, re-entry programs and alternatives to predatory lending to help our neighbors with longer-term solutions to avoid or escape poverty.”

“ANXIETY AND NEED” INCREASING EVERYWHERE

Natalie Jayroe, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank in south Louisiana, told CNA that ever since the start of the pandemic, the “level of anxiety and need” among the people they serve has not abated.

The food bank already serves about 200,000 people in south Louisiana, and Jayroe said the number of people seeking their services has increased by 5% every month since inflation started rising.

One problem Second Harvest faces is that much of the federal money allocated during the pandemic has dried up, leaving the food bank to foot more of the bill than it did during the initial period of high demand brought on by the COVID crisis.

The St. Augustine Wellston Center, in St. Louis, distributes food to families monthly and buys much of its food using donated funds rather than relying on donated items. Calabro, the director, said their monthly grocery bill has increased in recent months from about $1,200 on average to nearly $3,000.

Calabro said they are seeing an increase not only in the numbers of families that are coming to them for assistance but also an increase in the number of times families have had to return to them to seek help.

The three food pantries operated by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston “have seen a significant increase by families who are experiencing food insecurity,” a spokesperson told CNA.

“People are not only coming in for food, but they are also requesting clothing, school supplies, cleaning products, rental, and utility assistance,” she said. “Many are even seeking employment guidance and education and training assistance.”

Community members who depend on the pantries for sustenance, like LaShanda Davis, remain grateful for their work.

“This pantry has been a true blessing to my family and me,” Davis said.

Mary Agnes Erlandson, the center director for St. Margaret’s Center in Inglewood, California, a part of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, told CNA that the families they serve “are definitely feeling the impact of the economy and inflation.”

“All the expenses are going up including rent, so we’re getting a lot of people calling and asking for utility assistance, rent assistance,” Erlandson said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Margaret’s held a weekly drive-through food pantry that served roughly 200 families. Today, the center runs a modified food pantry open Tuesday through Friday, that serves 30 to 40 families each day. Volunteers prepare food based on families’ needs, Erlandson said, with the help of volunteers, who pick up food from stores every day.

At St. Margaret’s Center, Erlandson recommended that people call their local food pantry to see what they need most. Food pantries have different needs depending on their location, size, and population that they serve — and sometimes they receive an excess of one item when they need something else.

Calabro, of St. Louis’ Wellston Center, gave similar advice, urging people of good will to check their local food pantry’s website to ensure they are donating something the pantry needs, rather than whatever surplus items they have on hand. For an operation like the Wellston Center, which buys most of its food, cash donations can be especially helpful.

Jane Stenson at Catholic Charities USA also told CNA that cash can help.

“Often cash is preferable which allows pantries to purchase selective items that they know they need,” she said.

At the same time, she stressed that right now, “any and all donations are very much welcomed.”

“Donations are very much needed, particularly items such as meat, dairy and produce,” she added. “Consider, where possible, adding some extra items to your weekly shopping and donating to a food pantry. Also, personal hygiene items such as shampoo, toothpaste, and diapers are very much needed since you can’t use the SNAP benefit to cover these items.”

The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston pointed to the Catholic reasoning behind providing help to those in need.

“Catholic Social Teaching urges us to treat one another with dignity and compassion,” a spokesperson for the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston told CNA. “Catholics can continue to heed Christ’s call to care for the most vulnerable of God’s children by volunteering at food pantries and utilizing their networks and resources to help feed more families.”

Food Banks feeling overwhelmed in these times of rising costs and high inflation

 

Families, food banks seek creative ways to counter inflation’s bite

People shop in a New York City supermarket June 10, 2022, as the nation faced higher food and other consumer prices due to inflation. (CNS photo/Andrew Kelly, Reuters)

By: Dennis Sadowski

Date: August 5, 2022

WASHINGTON (CNS) — With high inflation driving rising food prices, Elma Lou Ortiz hardly thinks it’s surprising that more people are showing up at the food pantry operated by Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi in Texas.

“Our clients, they are overwhelmed with how much everything has gone up. Even people who are receiving food stamp benefits are coming to our pantry,” said Ortiz, director of the agency’s Crisis Assistance and Self-sufficiency Services Department.

The evidence is in the numbers.

In 2021, Ortiz said about 250 families visited the agency’s Choice Pantry each month, choosing the type of fresh fruit and vegetables, staples, meat and dairy they need. This year, she tallies 800 families a month coming to the pantry that is open Mondays through Thursdays each week.

“We used to see 30 to 40 families a day and now we’re seeing 100 families a day,” she told Catholic News Service Aug. 3.

A network of five smaller pantries in outlying areas of the Diocese of Corpus Christi is seeing more clients this year as well, Ortiz said.

She explained how she spends additional funds — as much as $600 a week — to meet the increased demand. And for every delivery from the regional food bank a mile or so away, there’s now a $25 delivery fee tacked on.

“We’re all kind of struggling a little bit here,” Ortiz said.

Whether in southern Texas or elsewhere, those who provide food to people in need report seeing more low-income working families and senior citizens seeking assistance. They are hearing from people who are having to carefully choose how to spend their limited financial resources.

Food pantries and meal programs are providing a bridge to individuals and families who also are facing higher costs for housing, utilities and fuel for their vehicle.

For the 12 months ending in June, consumer prices were up 9.1%, the most since 1981, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Data show overall food prices were up 10.4% with food at home — what’s purchased at grocery stores — rising 12.2%. Food outside the home is up 7.7%.

Utilities also rose during the period, with electricity up 13.7% and natural gas up 38.4%.

Motor fuel, including all types of gasoline, have shown the highest increase among consumer costs, rising 60.2% in the past year. Gasoline prices nationally in July fell 34 cents from their all-time peak in June to $4.66 per gallon, U.S. Energy Information Administration data show. The cost of gas has remained above $4 per gallon since March, the longest period in U.S. history.

Such inflation is a concern for Anthony Granado, vice president of government relations at Catholic Charities USA. He is working with members of Congress and their staffs to ensure that adequate funding for social services, especially food and nutrition programs, are included in appropriations bills for fiscal year 2023 currently being debated.

“We anticipate food will continue to rise. Now is not the time to cut programs that serve working people and low-income people who are fighting with continued high gas prices and high food costs,” he said. “Ultimately, the people who have the least amount of money are going to feel the brunt of this.”

Illustrating his concern for inflation’s impact on families and food banks is the experience of the distribution network operated by Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens in New York.

“Normally what we would spend in a month we are now spending in two weeks on food to support our pantries, said Debbie Hampson, senior director of community outreach services.

The operation saw a 1,000% increase in clients in spring and summer 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic exploded. Client numbers dropped in 2021, but not to pre-pandemic levels, and then began increasing again this year paralleling the rapid rise in food prices, Hampson said.

Her colleague, Jennifer Smith, pantry supervisor, said many people seeking assistance hold jobs, but need a boost to stretch limited finances.

“They’re using our pantries as just an extra resource,” she said. “We’re seeing an increase in working families. It’s people who started coming at the beginning of the pandemic and they stopped coming once they were reemployed. Now they know about us, they’re coming back again because they need a supplement.”

Both would like to see stronger support for food programs, especially during a time when inflation is at its highest rate in four decades.

More families also are visiting Blanchet House in the Old Town neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Rather than distribute food, Blanchet (pronounced blan-shay) House provides meals to people, especially those who are homeless or living in single-room apartments.

The charitable agency was founded in the post-World War II years by students from the Holy Cross-run University of Portland inspired by the Catholic Worker Movement. It is seeing families driving from farther away for meals, Scott Kerman, executive director, said.

“We’re seeing families with young people at a rate unheard of before the pandemic. There are not a lot families in this district,” he said.

Housing costs in Portland have “gone crazy,” Kerman said, leading people to seek services that can help address rising expenses. “It speaks to their need.”

Beyond inflation, supply chain blockages and labor shortages are affecting the ability of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, which represents the state’s 12 Feeding America food banks and 3,700 hunger relief agencies, including Catholic-run programs.

The overall impact has led to the cost of food to rise from 42 cents per pound to $1.04 per pound, said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director. She has called on the Ohio Legislature to provide additional funding for food bank services because low-income and working-class people are being “further economically brutalized.”

“Families turning to us are citing their income,” Hamler-Fugitt told CNS. “For those who are working, while they may have seen a modest increase in wages it’s been completely eaten up by higher housing and food costs.”

Senior citizens, too, are feeling the impact of inflation. Hamler-Fugitt said she has heard from colleagues throughout the state that seniors are turning to food banks as they face rising energy costs and, for those owning their own homes, higher property taxes.

“I’m hearing a lot seniors say, ‘I am eating one meal a day,'” she said. “There’s a lot of fear. I don’t think I’ve ever heard this amount of anxiety and fear, fear that ‘I’m going to end up homeless. I’m going to end up destitute.'”

Despite the immense challenges, providers such as Hampson in New York are not planning to reduce food purchases in a time when the need is growing in the face of high inflation. And their clients know it.

“That’s what people are telling us at the food pantry: ‘Thank you for being here. It’s good to have the extra help,'” she said.

A message from the Covington Food Bank

This is Terri Turner-Marse, the ED of Food Bank of Covington. I hope my words adequately convey what is happening in our world here at FBC. Our flood relief eff...orts began this week with 8500 pounds of food going to Our Daily Bread, a food bank located in Hammond.

Yesterday we issued a volunteer plea for packing boxes today and dozens of people arrived to pack boxes for flood relief IN ADDITION to our regular crew of volunteers to serve those people in our food distribution program and who entered our doors for flood impact.

Over 300 boxes of food were packed... 10,000(+) pounds of food. These efforts today allowing over 15,000 pounds to leave our doors for Springfield, Robert and Hammond as well as residents in Livingston and St. Helena impacted by flood waters.

What a great place we live in!!! It is at times like these that I and the dedicated staff here at FBC have the privilege to witness the spirit and strength of our community. We are able to spread your generous spirit directly to those who need it most through the strength and teamwork of our volunteers and staff and the collaborative efforts between non profits in our region.
Thanks to each and everyone of you who support our mission through funds and food donations.
YOU make this happen!!!

My assigned parish lives the Gospel in word and deed; supporting the local food bank

Most Holy Trinity supports Covington Food Bank mission

Most Holy Trinity recently made a generous donation to support the Covington Food Bank's efforts to feed the poor. From left are Jamie Andrepont, Development Director, Covington Food Bank; Terri Turner-Marse, Executive Director, Covington Food Bank; Charles Lipari; Margaret Schmidt; Fr. Rodney Bourg, Pastor, Most Holy Trinity; Ann Malone, Board Member of Covington Food Bank; and parishioner, Most Holy Trinity.

 

By NOLA Community The Times-Picayune
on February 18, 2014 

Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, as a Stewardship Parish, makes support for the needy part of every donation given to the parish. Recently the group shared $6,000 to support the Covington Food Bank.
“We tithe, set aside 10 percent of all regular donation made to the parish,” explained Fr. Rodney Bourg, pastor of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church. “We then use these moneys to support the poor and needy in our local, national and international community.”
Margaret Schmidt, Pastoral Council member and Chair of the Social Apostolate at Most Holy Trinity, recently made the donation on behalf of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
In addition to monetary support, Most Holy Trinity collects food and supplies monthly for the Covington Food Bank. Parishioners and others can drop off donations at any time in the large storage box provided in the back of church.
Ann Malone, Board Member of the Covington Food Bank, said, “We at the Covington Food Bank have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the parishioners of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Their monthly food drives, donations for Coats for Kids program, sponsoring of children for the Christmas Angel Tree project, and this very generous recent donation have helped us tremendously to meet the needs of our clients at the Food Bank.”

More help to feed the hungry

Second Harvest food pantry to open at Bush senior center

By Karen Baker, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune

Pam Parker of Bush wanted to help fill a need she saw in her community. She wanted to help feed the hungry, especially the senior citizens she knew who were unable to drive to the Food Bank in Covington.

A couple of years ago, she said, she approached Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans about setting up a food bank in the Bush area, but that agency wasn’t ready to open a location in that area.

But a few months ago, she said, Second Harvest contacted her with good news.

“They decided they wanted a presence in this area,” Parker said. “They want to be everywhere. It’s a wonderful organization.”

And so, with the help of Second Harvest, Parker and others in Bush opened a food pantry at the COAST senior center on Louisiana 41.

Feeding the need

“We distributed once already, last Sept. 19, to 27 families. Since that time, we have had quite a few people sign up as word got out.”

It shouldn’t take long for the word to spread. In fact, Parker said, “Second Harvest told us that we ultimately might be looking at 100 families to serve.”

Although Parker envisions growing into a larger food bank, for now she knows that she has to start small.

“We are considered a food pantry,” she said. “We simply distribute the food provided to us by Second Harvest. They give us what they have.”

In fact, unlike the Covington Food Bank, which relies on community donations, the new food pantry in Bush is not seeking any donations from the public.

“We are not in a position to accept food at this time,” Parker said. “We are only open once a month.”

Taking care of seniors

Parker began to see the need for a food pantry through her church, Hebron Baptist, which has a ministry called Helping Hands.

“We thought a food bank was something we needed in the area. And my garden club has adopted the senior citizens; we saw a need there. A lot of the seniors qualify for this food and they don’t have transportation.”

Parker recalls driving some of the Bush seniors to Covington for food, because “we take care of our seniors here.”

But she knew there needed to be something closer to home.

And now there is. The need Parker saw in Bush is beginning to be filled, and now she and the others who are helping her want to spread the good news.

“We are trying to get the word out,” said Linda Manuel, who will be at the food pantry the second Tuesday of each month to register families.

“We want people to know this is available for them and we are here to help them.”

They are there to feed the need.

>>>This is very good news for the larger community in which I live.  This is part of the west and north St. Tammany civil parish(county) where we have rural poor.  That means poor folks who need decent transportation because everything is so far away.  The Food Bank mentioned in the article is first class and is located in downtown Covington.  And they do serve people from this community and beyond.  But it is a long drive.  So this food pantry, located in the rural area known as Bush, will be another resource to help feed the hungry!

It's a sign of the times

Food bank desperate, running out of food . wwltv.com
Posted on August 12, 2011 at 6:14 PM

Bill Capo / Action Reporter

NEW ORLEANS -- One hundred and thirty people sought lunch at the St. Jude Community Center. But very quickly the ravioli ran out, and the chef found the only thing left was to serve gravy on bread.

"I do my back-up plan. I do gravy and snap beans," said a worried Chef Derrick Sayles. "They don't have nothing else in the building to feed the homeless."

Desperate, they used part of their hurricane supplies. Their pantry for emergency food is virtually empty.

"We're resorting to having to pull out government meals because we have no food to cook," said center manager Glenn Turner. "We have no food to give away. Our pantry is empty. We had to close our food bank early."

They are one of 240 agencies across 23 parishes that get supplies from Second Harvest, but the food supply here is down 400,000 pounds, they say in part due to cutbacks from federal agencies.

"This place is pretty empty due to the fact that this space here holds about 13 truck loads of food, and right now as you can see we're only down to two truck loads," said Mamie Jackson, warehouse manager.

Parts of the warehouse look stocked, until you see the boxes are filled with cookies, crackers, and soft drinks. Second Harvest served over 4 million meals this summer alone, a 13 percent increase, but donations are down, and they're almost out of the staples hungry families need.

All you have to do is look at these shelves and you can see why they are urgently seeking help. But one of the products they are looking for most right now is peanut butter. There's not a jar of peanut butter in this entire warehouse, and it is one of their staples.

"140,000 cans less this year than last year, and we're expecting that that gap could grow by another 276,000 cans," said Second Harvest's Gerald Duhon. "We need it quickly and urgently." At the St. Jude Community Center, they're worried about next week.

"I see the sadness in people, even the little kids coming through here," said Sayles.

Hanging out at the food bank

Today my employer, Capital One Bank, arranged for about 25 of us associates to volunteer at the Covington Food Bank.  This is part of a week long effort across the entire footprint of the bank to have everyone participate in a week of service.  I was glad to be at the Covington Food Bank today because it is a ministry I'm very familiar with.

For many years I helped conduct food drives and deliver food to the food bank.  Tucked away in a poorer section of the Northshore community of Covington, LA, the food bank provides necessary food and other support to the poor of the community.  Sometimes the definition of poor can include those who fall on bad times; loss of a job, catastrophic medical expenses, and special circumstances.  This once tiny food bank has grown over the years, first because of Hurricane Katrina and now the depressed economy and resulting job market.

The food bank serves all people but it has a decidely Catholic flair as most of the workers and volunteers come from several Catholic parishes across the Northshore.  For certain though, there are many hard workers from several faith traditions and the food bank serves all that qualify for help.

Our efforts today included sorting food, unloading donations and loading up clients who patiently wait in line for their two week supply of food.  All of our associates really enjoyed their day of volunteer service.

Remarkably, the director, Deacon Tom Caffery, showed everyone the other ministries hosted by the food bank; a thrift store, a debtal clinic served by volunteer dentists and a Vicentenian center(named for St. Vincent de Paul) that provides some financial assistance.

I was humbled today, as both an associate of the bank and a Catholic Deacon, to meet three families applying for help and pooring out their own very personal very moving stories.



May God continue to bless the efforts of these outstanding workers and volunteers and may He bless all families who seek help from this great facility.

Here is their website
http://www.foodbankofcovington.org/