Food banks need help filling baskets

Vern Gossage, of Sonora, a volunteer at ATCAA’s Food Bank, sets some pie filling and other holiday needs into a nearly empty food bin. The food bank is in desperate need of pie filling and cranberry sauce. Maggie Beck/Union Democrat, copyright 2009

"We are literally days away from distribution and we’re 1,300 cans short on cranberry sauce and pie filling,” said Lee Kimball, director of the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency Food Bank in Jamestown.
 

Despite some signs the economy is headed back up, Kimball said local families are still in crisis.    

“Our numbers are continuing to reflect a growing need,” Kimball said.

In 2008, the Food Bank prepared about 1,200 Thanksgiving food baskets and hopes to gather enough supplies for 3,000 baskets to distribute on Nov. 20.

The bank received applications from 2,000 families, but some larger families receive more than one bag of holiday food items, Kimball said.

In 2007, the Food Bank provided 1,100 Thanksgiving baskets and 1,300 Christmas baskets, said Anthony Martinez, its operations coordinator.

The bank expects 2,000 families will request assistance for Christmas food baskets as well, Kimball said.

Earlier this year, ATCAA was awarded $210,600 from the Sonora Area Foundation’s “May SOS — Tuolumne County Families in Crisis” campaign to raise funds for three area assistance agencies — ATCAA for its food bank, shelter and energy assistance programs; Interfaith Community Social Services for food, clothing and firewood services, and Sierra Senior Providers for Meals on Wheels and the firewood program.

However, Kimball said, that money is used for every-day food assistance programs.

ATCAA distributed 582,672 pounds of food and assisted 7,187 households in Tuolumne County from January to June, Kimball said.

Kimball said she’d prefer not to spend that money on “holiday extras.”

“I need people to pitch in those cans to make it happen,” Kimball said.

The Food Bank tries to provide pie filling, cranberry sauce, stuffing, a baking item like cake mix or muffin mix, two canned vegetables, and two items of a holiday extra, like olives, sugar or marshmallows, Martinez said.

They also try to provide potatoes, yams, apples, onions, squash, and usually a holiday roll plus a ham or turkey.

Time is also running short for Christmas holiday baskets.    

“We also have 30 days to raise 3,000 cans of each item for Christmas,” Kimball said. 

In Calaveras County, the Resource Connection Food Bank, formerly the HRC Food Bank, is also asking for community support to fill the baskets.

“We are low,” said Jeannie Hayward, program director. “We serve 650 meal boxes at Thanksgiving and 650 at Christmas.”

“It’s going to cost about $35,000 total, and we’ve raised about $22,000,” Hayward said.

Hayward said the Resource Connection has Santa’s Express boxes out in the community for food donations, but organizers are never sure what they’ll actually end up with. Volunteers for distribution are also needed.

“Anything the community can do to pull together would be wonderful,” Hayward said.

For Thanksgiving, turkeys are provided in baskets and hams are supplied for Christmas, she said.

Other items still needed are: boxes of stuffing, boxes of dessert, cake or brownie mix, canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, eggs, dinner rolls, margarine, fresh fruit and canned fruit.