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Video: Food Link Helps Feed the Hungry

By Katie Dodd
Photos by Emily Wathen
Video by Jeffrey A. Haines

Update: Volunteer Center for Anne Arundel County Holiday Giving Tree

The Volunteer Center is the county-wide clearinghouse for information about volunteering throughout Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. The Center is sponsoring a Giving Tree at its office in the Heritage Center, 2666 Riva Rd. Suite 130, Annapolis, MD 21401, from now until December 23, 2008. The Center is collecting cash donations, baby food, diapers, and other items for Food Link’s Emergency Baby Pantry, and cash donations, pet foods and other supplies for the SPCA of Anne Arundel County. For more information visit the web site at: www.volunteerannearundel.org, call 410-897-9207, or E-mail info@volunteerannearundel.org.
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It’s a warm, sunny Friday morning, at about 8:30 a.m., and I have just arrived at the Riva Road Farmers’ Market, just outside of Annapolis. My previous visits have been on busy days when fresh produce is being sold, so I am surprised at how large the pavilion looks when it is almost completely empty. About a dozen people are already here, some congregated around the vans parked along the far side, and others milling around or leaning against the rafters which hold up the long, wooden roof beams. They are all waiting for a truck to arrive—a truck full of food.

Every Friday at this Farmers’ Market, Food Link, the largest hunger relief organization in Anne Arundel County, distributes about 10,000 pounds of free food to local organizations and individuals. Led by directors Cathy Holstrom and Paula Gordon, a handful of volunteers operate the food distribution service, handing out fresh fruits and vegetables, a few Entenmann’s pastries, and, on rare occasions, meat. A truck arrives at 9 a.m. from Jessup Wholesale Market, followed by a second truck which brings food that has been collected by “gleaning,” a process by which the food that falls on the ground or is missed during the harvesting at local farms–is collected and sold for 10-20 cents per pound. Various agencies, including soup kitchens, churches, and rehabilitation centers, start lining up vehicles at the market around 8 a.m. to pick up their allotment of groceries. Individuals trickle in and watch as the boxes of food are unloaded from the trucks. The boxes must be counted, divided, and dispensed, first to the agencies and then to individuals. "There is difficulty in making the best decisions about distribution. The first priority is the agencies," says Executive Director Cathy Holstrom. "We believe in direct distribution—getting food out to the people."

Food Link counts on the donations it receives to run its programs. Some come from local caterers, who have untouched food leftover from an event. But mostly, Food Link is supplied by the region’s grocery stores like Graul’s, Giant, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. However, the recent surge in food prices prompted by the international food crisis has taken its toll on the distribution process. Mediocre harvests, increased demand, and the use of ethanol as an alternate fuel source have coalesced in a disastrous combination. These world issues have had a profound affect on small, local organizations. "When I see what's coming off the truck, I know what'll be (priced) high at the market because we won't get it," Paula Gordon says. The food that once would have been donated is now sold in grocery stores as part of salad bars and fresh soups, as businesses are less able to afford giving away their produce.

This year, the demand Food Link has seen for food has been significantly higher than it has been in the past. Churches call asking for help, but the organization can't say “yes” all the time because there's not enough to go around, says Holstrom. In 2006, about 5,400 individuals and families were fed each month. That number doubled in 2007, to 11,100 and has increased 20 percent this year so far, Holstrom says. Food Link prides itself on immediate distribution of good food, no matter who you are, but donors are the key link in the chain of feeding the hungry, and these days the food available to those in need is becoming more and more difficult to get.

Other food charities throughout the area are also feeling the crunch, and the demand from those in need has changed. Bruce Michalec, director of the Anne Arundel County Food Bank (AACFB), says he first started noticing this year's recession when he saw people picking up firewood on the side of the road to use for heating instead of spending money on electricity. "This is the worst I've ever seen it," he says of the food crisis. And this is a man who knows what he's talking about—he's been working at the Food Bank since he helped found it 21 years ago. Although his independent charity has not noticed a change in food donations, there has been a drastic increase in demand. And this year is the first they've experienced monetary problems. "My dollar doesn't buy as much anymore," Michalec says. "Agencies that used to pick up food with one truck now need to fill two."

The AACFB not only gives away food, it also provides people with furniture, clothing, dishes, paintings, wheelchairs, movies, toiletries—basically anything you can imagine. The idea is that if you need food, you need everything, and this is the place to get it all. “I’m afraid people are eating up their savings,” says Michalec. “Don’t wait until it’s too late. Come in for help. And whatever you do, don’t lose your home.”
People who never had to worry about buying their groceries are suddenly wondering how they will obtain their next meal. Those who rely on food stamps are finding that they only make it halfway through the month. Many of these people are not unemployed—they are hard-working and still unable to provide enough food to feed their families. The situation is dire, and does not appear to be improving anytime soon.

“More people who are not poor are coming to get food—middle class people are really in need of help. That’s where I see the biggest difference,” says Crystal Brownlee, the director of Annapolis’ Light House Homeless Shelter. “Working class people are coming who have two adults who bring in an income and still need help.” The Light House Homeless Shelter doles out bags of food from its pantry weekdays for those who are able to show identification and two recent pieces of mail from the same address, to ensure they have a place to cook the food. The shelter also hands out anywhere from 50 to 100 bagged lunches Monday through Friday, as well as provides dinner to those who stay overnight. The shelter relies heavily on private donations—and those donations, which do not come from churches, are now declining, Brownlee says.

Watching the news and reading the paper every day may give the impression that the food crisis is a distant, third-world issue. Yes, it is true that in developing countries, an average of 60-80 percent of income is spent on food versus 10-20 percent in developed countries. However, the issue is not far removed from us; one person in 16 of Anne Arundel County residents is living in poverty. That is equal to about 28,000 people, one third of which are children.

Solutions to the food crisis often seem far from the average person’s grasp. But there are small things individuals can do to ease the situation. In helping to support more than 100 emergency feeding organizations, Food Link will accept nearly any food donations. If you have a party and do not serve all of the food you bought, give Food Link a call and they will match you with a food charity close to where you are. This also applies to the four extra boxes of doughnuts left after your child’s swim meet, the extra bowl of potato salad that sat on your kitchen counter waiting to feed your cook-out guests, the pan of lasagna that you started cooking before you decided to go out to eat—the list goes on and on. The Lighthouse Shelter also accepts basically any food donations, cooked or uncooked. The AACFB focuses on collecting non-perishable food items. There are limits, of course, to food that has been touched or half-eaten, but it’s worth calling to check rather than assuming there is no place for it but a landfill.

As part of the nation’s Farm-To-School movement, Maryland has passed a bill in which locally grown foods will go to local school cafeterias, instead of being distributed through a wholesaler across the nation. It is important to buy produce from local farms—one of the 12,000 in Maryland—whenever possible, not only to help the farmers, but also to relieve stress of food transportation and shortages. For guidance on what is in season in Maryland and where to find it, visit Maryland’s Best at www.marylandsbest.net or call the Maryland Department of Agriculture at (410) 841-5770.

Whether or not you are gifted with a green thumb, next spring you may want to take a stab at growing your own garden. With a small base of knowledge about what may grow best in your soil, you can experiment with different fruits and vegetables—who knows, you may find you grow enough, say, radishes to eat for weeks. If you are a part of an organization that is interested in starting its own garden, visit Annapolis Community Food Gardens at www.annapolisfoodgardens.com.

We are fortunate to have so many organizations available to help those in need in the area. If you find you are not making ends meet, there will be somewhere to turn—at least for the time being. But what happens when these charities are unable to provide the commodities that are so desperately needed now? “We have good programs here, but we need to fund them,” says Michalec. “You [the people of the county] are the Anne Arundel County Food Bank.” And, for that matter, we are all of these organizations. Let’s make sure they stick around for awhile.

If you are interested in donating time, money, or food to any of these organizations, they can be reached by phone at (410) 222-7853 (Food Link), (410) 923-4255 (AACFB), or (410) 263-1835 (The Light House Shelter). You can also visit their websites for more information (http://www.annapolislighthouse.org, http://www.aafoodbank.org/index.html, and http://www.foodlinkmaryland.org/)

jeffrey a. haines katie dodd nov 08 emily wathen

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