Feeding a need: Wichita Falls Area Food Bank supplies Graham Food Pantry News Staff Mon, 07/22/2024 - 4:47 pm
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Wichita Falls Area Food Bank CEO David O’Neil speaks with the Graham Evening Lions Club last week regarding the services they offer to 12 counties, including Young County through the Graham Crisis Center. 
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Wichita Falls Area Food Bank Executive Coordinator Julie Nawrocki discusses local support for Young County through the Graham Area Crisis Center during a Graham Evening Lions Club meeting Wednesday, July 17.
X
Thomas Wallner editor@grahamleader.com
As a part of the Graham Crisis Center, the Food Pantry offers food once per month to anyone who is below the poverty line. Along with local donations, a big support for the organization is food supplied by the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank.
WFAFB provides food to cities in 12 counties for those who are food insecure. Food insecurity is a term used by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to describe those who do not have enough to eat and are unaware from where their next meal will come.
Representatives of WFAFB presented Wednesday, July 17 about the local and area impact by the organization. In Young County, 3,060 people are considered food insecure, and with a population of 17,867 as of the 2020 Census that is 17% of its total population.
The organization has distributed a total of 713,641 pounds of food to Graham from 2021-2023, with a total of 288,114 pounds distributed last year.
“The investment of the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank to Graham was ($556,060.02) last year in food, and that food… had no cost to anybody here. I think that’s really important,” WFAFB CEO David O’Neil said. “…Our name is the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank, but I’m here to tell you when we’re in Graham and when we distribute things in Graham, we’re the Graham food bank. ...We’re invested in this community. We may not have a warehouse here, but we’re equally invested in this community and the ability to help it thrive.”
The organization receives donations which account for 38% of their funding which is used for products purchased from wholesalers.
“Proteins and fresh produce are always a concern,” Executive Coordinator Julie Nawrocki said. “Much of what comes out of the food bank, it depends on what’s coming in, and those are some of our highest priced items, especially with what we’re seeing with inflation.”
O’Neil said on average it costs WFAFB $1.93 per pound to process donated food.
“It has to be looked at to see if the dates are still good on it. The barcode has to be marked out, because if we don’t mark it out... they take it back to the store and get money,” O’Neil said. “...We’ve got to wash it down with a saline solution so it’s not contaminated. We have to put it in different categories and boxes and sort it. We’ve got to put the boxes on a pallet. We’ve got to put that information into a computer so (Graham Crisis Center Director) Joy (Petersen) can order it.”
There are 197 food banks in the United States measured through the non-profit organization Feeding America. Out of those food banks, WFAFB has the 14th highest food insecurity rate in the country.
“So we have a need and a huge need. It’s getting worse and many of you all see that in your own communities,” O’Neil said. “We know that the cost of living has gone up over the past several years. Inflation by most accounts is food inflation, (which) is 20% over the last three years, and you can take a look when you go to the grocery store at what that’s done.”
The CEO said that through a study of U.S. households, 64% that are classified as food insecure have a job.
“The perception is that it’s the homeless, the downtrodden, the lazy, those that don’t work (that utilize these services). There is a segment of that, but that’s not who we see day-in and day-out,” he said. “...It’s families that are struggling to keep their head above the waterline, and that’s why we’re so privileged to be able to help.”
The Graham Food Pantry is one of 92 organizations served through WFAFB which is crucial to providing food for the community.
“For us to continue meeting the needs right here in Young County, from a funding standpoint, we would require $2.1 million,” Nawrocki said. “...Since COVID, we have an anonymous donor. So when (Graham Crisis Center Director) Joy (Petersen) comes to the food bank, it’s at no cost to the crisis center or any of our other 91 partner organizations.”
The $2.1 million is what it would take to provide three meals per day to the 3,060 who are food insecure in Young County at about $3.60 a meal, or $11 per day.
The organization said they do not know when the anonymous donor will stop funding food for the areas, but that the donation is a substantial benefit for the communities supported.
“Before it would be on average 19 cents a pound that the pantry would have to pay whatever they took out. So we’ve been blessed,” O’Neil said. “We don’t know when that’s going to end (or) if it’s going to end, but we’re blessed to have that and the region is blessed to have that.”
The Graham Food Pantry is open from 10 a.m. to noon and 1-3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Along with the food pantry service, a WFAFB commodities truck provides food for free on the second Tuesday of each month from 1-3 p.m. in the parking lot of Eastside Church of Christ at 705 Indiana St.
“Hunger is very, very circumstantial, and it doesn’t discriminate,” O’Neil said. “All it takes is one or two little circumstances and you can be thrown into hunger. You could lose a job, you could get sick, you could have the primary wage earner die. ...Just think about all those things that can happen.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0