Like most people, I used to think of a food bank as a building that somehow gave food to the poor. I never really thought of where the food actually came from, though suspected it was from Postal Union and Boy Scout drives and maybe even a few isolated donations. Did I ever have the wrong idea!
A food bank is a warehouse sized repository that “banks” food for distribution to local food pantries and other charities. The food comes in from food drives, like I suspected, but also from grocery stores, food processing plants, farmers, bakeries, US Fish & Game, and even other food banks across the United States.
It really is an amazing and efficiently run operation.
As the food comes into the warehouse, it goes through a process of being checked for quality, then sorted, labeled, and placed on the shelves for redistribution. Fresh food, such as produce, dairy products, and other perishables can be checked in, weighed, and redistributed to other agencies within a matter of a few hours. Because of their short shelf live, these types of foods are quickly distributed to needy families, often within 12 hours of leaving the food bank.
Canned foods tend to take a little longer to sort. Canned items that come in through a charitable food drive are brought to the food bank in barrels or in crates where they must be individually sorted by hand and checked for quality. These non perishables are boxed according to food type, then placed on shelves for redistribution. These canned goods are often sorted by volunteers.
Frozen meats from grocery stores and wild game from Fish & Game also make their way to food banks, where they are placed in deep freeze and eventually distributed to other charitable agencies.
For large quantities of food that are donated from processing plants, a certain amount of this food is traded to other food banks for their surplus foods. A food bank, for example, that receives 100 pallets of granola bars knows that they can’t possibly distribute all these before they begin to go stale. They may send 50 pallets to a food bank in Florida, in exchange for a truck load of fresh oranges.
So what happens once the food has been sorted and has been placed on the shelf?
Most food banks don’t give food directly to needy families. While some food banks do have direct distribution facilities somewhere on site, more commonly, the food is distributed to local charities for distribution. These charities include shelter homes, soup kitchens, and food pantries. The agencies have a regular pickup schedule based on their need, and may come in once a day or even once a month to choose from the many things stored in the food bank.
Once the food has been brought back to a direct distribution center, it is quickly redistributed to needy families, all at no cost.
While many food banks have administrative and warehouse staff, they do depend on volunteers like us to help sort and package the food, and redistribute it to the needy. Volunteering at a food bank or at a direct distribution pantry is a rewarding experience, and is a terrific community service project for large groups on people. For more information, please visit this link at http://www.secondharvest.org/zip_code.jsp for a complete listing of food rescue organizations in your community.
