Shortages, Prices Hit California Food Banks as Schools Recess

from Bloomberg

By Ryan Flinn

Turning dozens of hungry children away from a free meals program wasn't how Vince Harper wanted to start the summer.

Harper oversees a program in Santa Rosa, California, that provides food to kids during schools' summer recess. More than 90 lined up at a community center on June 9, the first day of the service. Only 50 meals were available.

``It's a terrible feeling,'' said Harper, 41, director of youth and neighborhood services for the Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County. ``You have to tell them to come back tomorrow, and hopefully they will.''

As California schools let out this month, food banks in the state face record demand for free meals from families pressed by food price inflation and economic hardship.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties has requested extra donations, saying 115,000 children may go hungry in the region. The San Francisco Food Bank has been forced to find new sources to distribute enough food for 66,000 meals a day, a 16 percent increase from last year.

``There are some kids this summer that might not have enough food because they're not getting meals at school,'' said Marguerite Nowak, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Food Bank.

In California, a state with 36.5 million residents, food banks serve about 5 million people per month, said Jessica Bartholow of the California Association of Food Banks.

Some food banks say they are having trouble meeting demand because of a 59 percent drop in goods provided by the federal government, forcing them to buy more food while prices are rising. Manufacturing efficiencies also have decreased the amount of surplus and defective products typically donated by companies, food bank employees say.

Graduation Ceremony

In Kettleman City, California, about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, kindergarteners took a break from their June 6 graduation ceremony to go to a food bank.

``They walked across the street in their Sunday best to get food from us so they could eat that weekend,'' said Dana Wilkie, president of Community Food Bank in Fresno.

Californians are being squeezed by the nation's highest gas prices, averaging $4.609 a gallon for regular unleaded, some of the country's most expensive housing markets and an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, fifth highest in the country.

Restrictive Policies

The state also has one of the country's most restrictive food stamp policies, excluding those with more than $2,000 in savings. That means residents with retirement or education funds must cash out to qualify. About half the people otherwise eligible for food stamps don't receive them, Bartholow said.

The increase in demand has led to longer lines at food banks. ``Sometimes we had to wait an hour,'' said Melinda Thornton, 36, who was eating a meal of pasta with ham, peas, bread and broccoli with her husband, Michael, last week at St. Anthony Foundation's dining room in San Francisco.

The line outside wrapped around the block and has grown since Thornton first started coming in December, she said in an interview at the facility.

The federal government has reduced donations to California food banks by 59 percent, to 30.9 million meals last year from 75.7 million in 2002, according to the California Association of Food Banks.

``People used to get two bags of groceries for the month; now, four to six cans,'' said David Goodman, 44, executive director of Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa.

Dwindling Donations

In a survey by America's Second Harvest, a national hunger relief organization, the Food Bank for Monterey County in Salinas, California, reported a 63 percent jump in clients during the past four months, while distributing six items per bag compared to the 18 it used to provide.

There is so much empty space in the Fresno Community Food Bank's distribution center ``you could drive a truck through it,'' Wilkie said.

Albert Cabarloc, 59, said he worries about whether the groceries he receives from a food bank in Oakland will be sufficient for him and his 13 year-old daughter, who had received free meals at school.

Cabarloc said he receives about $11,100 in disability payments for a degenerative back condition; after gas, rent and other bills, he and his daughter each have 75 cents to spend per meal, he said.

``We have enough to get us by for the next couple of days,'' said Cabarloc. ``But she's eating, she's growing.''

Rising food, fuel and labor costs forced a Meals on Wheels program in San Joaquin County to close this month. San Francisco's Haight Ashbury Food Program also shut down.

Relief may come later this year, when the new federal farm bill increases the amount of savings individuals may have while qualifying for food stamps. State representatives have also proposed legislation to ease restrictions.

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