On the Front Lines of US Food Banks

Money and food are consumable commodities, so we begin each Monday morning from zero, and begin the process of fundraising and food procurement anew.

I am celebrating the leadership of Mark Lowry, Director of the Orange County Food Bank, and his team of staff, volunteers and donors. Mark has been with the food bank for over 33 years and shared with me that he has never experienced anything like what they experienced in March – and it is not over yet.

In addition to the health care workers, public safety professionals, delivery teams and military personnel serving on the front lines of COVID-19, we must not forget the nonprofit organizations that are working around the clock with inadequate resources and incredible uncertainty to meet the needs of the most vulnerable among us.

Dan: What are the primary needs that you are seeing on the front lines of COVID-19? 

Mark: There has been an unprecedented explosion in requests for emergency food assistance. We experienced a 4,000% increase in hits on our ocfoodhelp.org website for those seeking food assistance in 1 week. The number of persons applying for CalFresh (Food Stamps) has doubled.

Many people who fall in the category of ‘newly vulnerable’ may have been working in a low wage service industry job, living on the brink of poverty prior to the coronavirus outbreak. Many were already living paycheck to paycheck. The loss of one paycheck, or more, can result in an immediate crisis. 

We also serve a large senior population and with the order for seniors to shelter in place, our traditional model of inviting seniors to a mass distribution of food boxes poses a dilemma. 

Also, 250 Orange County charities have closed, most of which were emergency food providers. We are seeing signs of strain in the safety net in Orange County. 

Organizationally, we lost all of our volunteer groups overnight and have worked to rebuild a labor force. 520 volunteers were lost in 2 days.

The most traditional sources of donated food also evaporated, so the supply of food is strained.

Dan: How is the food bank addressing these needs? 

Mark: We leveraged local media to appeal for new volunteers. We are assembling food that we have never before packaged into boxes to minimize human contact and honor social distancing. We are in regular contact with the partner organizations who distribute our food in their communities in order to feed information to 211 regarding any changes in the operation of those organizations. In that way, 211 can make appropriate referrals and avoid sending a family to an organization that is closed. 

We are working on several tracks to increase home delivery of food to seniors, including a new partnership with Amazon. Seeing strains in the local safety net, we have begun supporting mass drive thru food distributions serving in excess of 5,000 families at one time. I was at one such food distribution this morning at Santa Ana College.

We are engaged in a major fundraising campaign each week to raise money, to purchase food, to serve families the following week. We prefer not to buy food, but in the absence of any remaining option, I estimate that we need to purchase $385,000 in food staples each week in order to meet the basic needs today.

Dan: What are the biggest challenges that the food bank is facing? 

Mark: Now that we have stabilized our labor force with new individual volunteers, securing an adequate food supply is the community’s greatest need. 

We are receiving the short-term donation of fresh produce from closed restaurants, hotels, and the produce wholesalers who supply those markets. The quantity has exceeded our current cold storage capacity and we will need to rent temporary refrigeration and freezer units this coming week in order to safely store that food for distribution. 

Traditional sources of donated non-perishable food staples has evaporated, so we fundraise in order to purchase truckloads of food staples (i.e. canned tuna, chicken, chili, fruit, vegetables, rice, beans, pasta, pasta sauce, macaroni & cheese, peanut butter, jelly, cereal, milk, and eggs) each week. 

Money and food are consumable commodities, so we begin each Monday morning from zero, and begin the process of fundraising and food procurement anew.

How to Support…

• Make a monetary donation here.
• Run a virtual food drive – see step-by-step instructions here.
• Reach out to your local food bank and offer your volunteer and monetary support.
• Raise awareness of the growing needs of food banks through your social media channels.