River Bend Foodbank - Feeding the Hungry Since 1982Feeding Illinois / Feeding America
 






River Bend Foodbank News!

River Bend Foodbank Salutes Hunger Advocate 13 Year Old Andy Parker of Moline!
Andy Parker, Moline, celebrated his birthday like many other 13-year olds. He had a party. What was different about this birthday is that Andy asked his guests to bring food for the hungry in lieu of gifts. He then brought his impressive collection of food to the foodbank for distribution to our member agencies.
Why did he do it? “Some people aren’t as lucky as I am,” he said. “We need to help them.”
Andy said he was surprised how generous people were and how much food they brought.   See photo.

Prince of Peace Loves Client Choice .
Prince of Peace in Northwest Davenport is a small church that is big on their food pantry. In fact, half the congregation has been part of the volunteer force at one time or another.  Several volunteers are not even members of the congregation. One visit to the pantry and it’s easy to see why they come out in force. There’s a joyful, happy atmosphere that can’t help but give both clients and volunteers a positive experience.

The volunteers themselves, offer plenty of reasons why they do it:

“It's fun to come here.”

“We’ve been blessed with so much, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t help out.”

“It’s not just about the food, but also about the relationships that we build with our fellow volunteers and the people we serve here.”

“I’m just living my faith.”

The pantry at Prince of Peace began three years ago when a congregation member who has since moved out of the area felt that it was something the church needed to do. The pastor shared his vision and the food and volunteers followed. Nick Hensler came aboard as Pastor of the Lutheran church two years ago and considers the pantry to be a very important ministry.
“We are a community of hope,” says Nick. “And that reaches beyond the church walls to the entire neighborhood here. This is about more than food, it’s also about personal relationships and being there for the clients if they need someone to talk to or a referral to other services that can help them. But first, we must take care of the basic needs. The support we get from our congregation for the pantry in terms of food, money and volunteers is tremendous.  River Bend Foodbank is also a very important partnership and enables us to get so much more food than we would otherwise.”

Open every Monday night including holidays from 6-7:30PM, Prince of Peace Food Pantry is one of the few with evening hours.  More than 100 households are served every month, nearly twice as many as last year. Many come in with a lot of misgivings, people who had never imagined they would be using a pantry. “Part of our vision is that this is a safe place for people to come,” says one volunteer. 

“There’s no judgment here, just a real desire to provide assistance to people who are struggling right now.”

 “It really breaks my heart to see people walk in the door with tears telling us how embarrassed they are to be here, how they never dreamed they would be in this position,” Nick says. “I tell them, ‘That’s why we’re here.’”

Nick rarely misses a Monday night at the pantry, noting that he has experienced a paradigm shift about those in need.  “I had this pre-conceived idea about who needy people are. My involvement in the food pantry has made me realize they are not who I thought they were. There are many faces of hunger from the person who has just lost a job to the family devastated by illnesses and medical bills. The stereotypes just don’t hold up to reality.”  

Recently the pantry adopted a new distribution system called Client Choice.  The concept is just like it sounds:   Clients are allowed to participate in choosing for themselves which foods they will take home instead of getting a pre-packaged assortment of food.

“We made the switch about six months ago and could not be happier with the outcome. It’s win/win. We are actually able to reduce the inventory we have on hand without reducing the amount of food we give out. There’s much less waste. Our volunteers have come to really like it because they are spending more time helping the clients now.  And the clients—you can see their faces light up as if to say ‘You mean we get a choice?’”

The way Client Choice works at Prince of Peace is that recipients are given a selection form and they circle their choice of different kinds of vegetables, soups, cereals, etc. Then they can choose up to ten items listed on a white board, including frozen meat. Volunteers are on hand to assist people complete the form. Then the volunteers put together the food packages based on the selections on the form.

Nick’s advice to other pantries that are considering making the switch: “Try it!  You can transition so easily into this. Start small, maybe just give clients a choice of what vegetables they want. Once you see the advantages of just that one aspect of client choice, you’ll be motivated to take it even further. Also, it helped us tremendously to visit Sacred Heart Food Pantry in Rock Island and see what great things Mike Clark was doing there with Client Choice.”

 

Agency Spotlight: Sacred Heart Food Pantry in Rock Island
For 30 years Mike Clark has volunteered at the Sacred Heart Food Pantry in Rock Island. 30 years!
“Why do I do it? It’s what we’re supposed to do. Help each other out.”
Mike spends 20 hours a week running the extremely busy food pantry which is open from 9 to 11 am Monday through Friday. Sacred Heart distributes hundreds of thousands of pounds of food each year to those in need. People who come just walk around the shelves and pick out what they need, filling a plastic grocery bag.

Mike learned at an early age to care about others who might be struggling. “My grandparents used to feed people through their back door,” he says. “Now we rely more on food pantries. I really enjoy doing this. I enjoy the people.”
Sacred Heart is a big user of the food bank. “We get about 95% of our food from the Foodbank. It’s why we can serve so many.” Located in the Rock Island Township Building on 7th Avenue in Rock Island, Sacred Heart Food Pantry is the largest pantry in the Quad Cities,  serving about 900 households or 3300 individuals every month.  Mike reports that in this economy, the need has increased on every level. He says that new people are showing up every week, and many of them say that they have never been to a food pantry before.

One such person, Tony was visiting the food pantry for the first time this year.  “I’m in construction,” he says. “Last year was good but this year, I just can’t get any work. I have a family and kids, and it breaks my heart to be in this situation. This really helps though.”
Jane is another person who has relied upon the food pantry.  She’s a senior on a fixed income. “If it wasn’t for them, I would go without.” she says.

Support Hunger Relief on Your Tax Form
As you fill out your Illinois income tax forms, please help us in the fight against hunger. It's easy -and important. Simply check off "Hunger Relief" listed in Schedule G and enter your tax-deductible contribution amount on Line i. Your donation will benefit Feeding Illinois (www.feedingillinois.org), a coalition of eight Feeding America food banks in Illinois providing emergency food to 1.4 million men, women and children across the state. The need for emergency food has never been greater. Demand at the Feeding Illinois network of 2,000 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters has risen 50% over the past two years, and Feeding Illinois food banks are serving one in ten residents.

We need to raise $100,000 to remain on the state tax form next year. There's no limit to how much you can donate through the tax check off program. So, please give what you can to help bring more food to more hungry people.

Landmark New Study Reveals an Unprecedented Number of Quad City Families Seeking Emergency Food Assistance
Largest, Most Comprehensive Report Ever Conducted On Emergency Food Distribution Reports 27Percent Increase in Clients Served Annually. 

 A landmark study released today by River Bend Foodbank and Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, reports that more than 84,100 people, including 32,800 children, receive emergency food each year through River Bend and its member agencies.  On any given week River Bend Foodbank's distribution network serves 10,000 different people.  The findings represent a 27 percent increase since the findings reported in Hunger in America 2006.

Hunger in America 2010 is the first research study to capture the significant connection between the recent economic downturn and an increased need for emergency food assistance. The number of children and adults in need of food as a result of experiencing food insecurity has significantly increased. 
 
Among all households served by food pantries and emergency programs in our 22-county service area more than 42% or 30,000 local residents are experiencing very low food security or hunger, a 27% increase in the number of households compared to four years ago.
 
 Nationally, more than one in three client households are experiencing very low food security or hunger a 54 percent increase in the number of households compared to four years ago.An estimated 5.7 million people receive emergency food assistance each week from a food pantry, soup kitchen, or other agency served by one of Feeding America's more than 200 food banks, including the River Bend Foodbank. This is a 27 percent increase over numbers reported in Hunger in America 2006, which reported that 4.5 million people were served each week.   
 
"This is by far the most in-depth study ever conducted on the state of hunger in our service area," says Tom Laughlin, Executive Director of River Bend Foodbank which is located in Moline, Illinois. "It will be very beneficial to have the hard data on what hunger looks like right here. Unfortunately, it's a picture of people having to choose between food and heating fuel (46% of food recipients) or food and medication ((38%)." 

Says Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America,"It is morally reprehensible that we live in the wealthiest nation in the world where one in six people are struggling to make choices between food and other basic necessities. These are choices that no one should have to make, but particularly households with children.  Insufficient nutrition has adverse effects on the physical, behavioral and mental health, and academic performance of children.  It is critical that we ensure that no child goes to bed hungry in America as they truly are our engine of economic growth and future vitality."  
 
The methodology incorporated into the 2010 study includes data collected from February through June, 2009.  The River Bend Foodbank conducted face-to-face interviews with more than 300 people seeking emergency food at food pantries, soup kitchens and other emergency feeding programs, as well as interviews with 150 agencies that provide food assistance.
 
Nationally, Feeding America collected quantitative and qualitative feedback from 61,000 face-to-face in-depth interviews with people seeking emergency food assistance and more than 37,000 agency surveys, making this study the largest, most-comprehensive ever conducted on domestic hunger. USDA reported in November 2009 that an estimated 49 million people, including 17 million children, are at risk of hunger in this country.  Hunger In America 2010 reinforces the dramatically increasing need for food assistance in the United States.
 
Of the 84,100 different people who access food assistance in River Bend's service area:

The Hunger Study also revealed that 65% of the food distributed by food pantries was received from River Bend Foodbank .

See the entire Local Hunger Study   

Local  Hunger Study Highlights

 Trying to Lose Weight? Pound for Pound, we can fight hunger together!
If you’re trying to lose weight, here’s some extra motivation – Become a Pound for Pound Challenge Participant and every pound you lose will provide River Bend Foodbank with one pound of food to help feed the hungry!

Losing weight may not be easy but signing up for the Pound for Pound Challenge is. Simply visit www.pfpchallenge.com, and click on Pledge Now to get started. 

Feeding America’s Pound for Pound Challenge – a proven, effective program supported by NBC’s The Biggest Loser, General Mills, Subway, 24 Hour Fitness and Walgreens – in its second year of helping America “Lose Nationally, Feed Locally.” The program helps people gain support in their effort to lose weight as they, in turn, help local food banks like ours raise funds to assist individuals, families, and children struggling with hunger in our area.

There are plenty of ways you can help! You can sign up to be a Challenge participant, support someone taking the Challenge with a pledge, become a Challenge Champion in our community, or start a Challenge team at your company or organization.

The more who sign up or pledge in our area, the more we can help fight hunger in our community. We hope you’ll join us in showing America that we are up to the Challenge here in the Quad Cities and surrounding communities. This is just one more way that Together We Can End Hunger!