By SUSAN MYKRANTZ
Ohio Correspondent

CLEVELAND, Ohio — As a member and later president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Jim Patterson - who along with his family owns and operates Patterson Fruit Farm in Chesterland, Ohio - sat in on many discussions on the impact the farm bill would have on agriculture.

Now as a member of the Board of Directors for the Cleveland Foodbank, Patterson discusses the impact the farm bill would have on U.S. food security and nutrition programs.

“I knew the previous chairman of the (Cleveland Foodbank) board of directors, and he got me involved to help them link with extension in Cuyahoga County to do educational programs,” Patterson said.

As a result, Ohio State University Extension in Cuyahoga County is working with the foodbank to include proper nutrition as part of the program and help its agencies obtain the products to have a mixed diet for their customers.

“Foodbanks want to educate their customers on nutrition and as a result, they have linked together resources that may not have been linked together in the past,” Patterson said.

Based on this experience, Patterson felt it was important to bring the people who grow the food together with the people who distribute the food. The result was a field trip for representatives of Lake, Ashtabula, Geauga, Cuyahoga and Ashland county farm bureaus to the Cleveland Foodbank. “Agriculture depends on people who buy our products,” Patterson said.

“We need people who understand what we do and why we do it to produce their food. Farm Bureau needs to understand how foodbanks operate and the number of meals they produce.”

Anne Goodman, President and CEO, and Patricia Eilmann, Director of Product Resource Development with the Cleveland Foodbank, gave the group a behind-the-scenes look at the 124,000-square-foot building that houses the foodbank. It includes offices; a warehouse area for storing food items, freezers and an industrial kitchen used to prepare meals for the school and senior programs it also serves.

Built five years ago through donations from a public/private partnership, the building is environmentally friendly, using recycled materials in the construction and furnishing of the building. Also, the building materials came from within the state, and no more than 300 miles from the Cleveland area.

Goodman said they have 78 employees, but the secret to their ability to serve thousands in their six-county area is the 10,500 volunteers who logged 60,000 plus hours of service and saving the foodbank millions in labor costs.

“Even when the economy tanked, we have not struggled for volunteers,” Goodman said. “Our volunteer base comes from everywhere; such as businesses, churches, and service groups, I think people are more aware of hunger and meeting basic needs of others.”

She added the board of directors is active in building relationships with other groups in the community.

Goodman said one reason the program is popular with state legislators is that much of the money generated by food purchases stays in the state and goes back into local economies. 98.5 percent of the food purchased is bought from Ohio growers and processors.
Patterson agreed adding that the money used to secure produce goes back to local farmers who put it back into the local community. In 2009, the foodbank expenses totaled more than $12 million, and distributed close to $30 million of food back into the community.

In its 30th year of fighting hunger in northeast Ohio, the Cleveland Foodbank is one of 12 regional foodbanks around Ohio. “Hunger is growing; we serve over 500 member agencies in our area,” said Goodman. “We need to make sure that people are food secure. We are working with our rural counties to assist community groups who have a food pantry in place or are interested in establishing a food pantry.”

In 2009, the Cleveland Foodbank, along with Ohio Assoc. of Second Harvest Food Banks banded together to encourage the Ohio legislature to raise the allocation for food security in the state from $8.5 million to $12 million.

In addition to providing food for area agencies, the foodbank also provides training for their staff and volunteers on food safety, storage, handling, and they assist them with purchasing refrigerators and cupboards for food storage. The foodbank staff also works closely with the agencies to assist them with connecting their clients with public resources and education on health and nutrition, and handling and cooking foods properly. “We try to help them keep pace with the food industry and the challenges we are facing,” Goodman said.

One major challenge is the fact that urban areas are grocery deserts, with only convenience stores close by to carry the necessities or the closest grocery store is located 20 or 30 miles away. Residents have little or no access to fresh produce. Last year, the foodbank added mobile food pantries to help communities reach people who are in need of food.

They also added Farmers’ Markets as a way to help 46 of their member agencies to distribute fresh fruits and vegetables at no cost to their clients. 60 percent of the food handled by the food bank, such as produce and dairy products is free to member agencies.

During a typical year, donations come into the foodbank from the USDA programs such as Commodity Supplemen-tal Food Programs, Ohio programs such as Ohio Food Purchase and Agricultural Clearance Program, and more than 300 local groceries, food manufacturers, farmers and private individuals through food drives and private donations.

These state programs coordinate food resources for all 12 area foodbanks in Ohio.

Eilmann said USDA and state purchase programs such as Ohio Food Purchase and the Agricultural Clearance Program, both part of Ohio’s Assoc. of Second Harvest Food Banks contribute shelf stable food and give agencies a reliable source for a variety of fruits, vegetables, cereals and proteins to keep on their shelves.
The state also provides the food bank with fresh produce and combined with donations from private growers, last year they took in over 7.1 million pounds of produce.

“Many people don’t realize the amount of produce that goes straight to the foodbanks,” Patterson said.

Eilmann added that while the foodbank receives a lot of produce from the state, they also are part of Feeding America, a national program that allows foodbanks to use shares to bid on available produce or other products if they can be used by the agency. The agency is responsible for paying the transportation costs.

“We value the produce we receive from Ohio farmers,” she said. “We talk to the state 3 or 4 times a day to see what is available when we need it. We also work with local farmers to procure excess produce.”

When food and produce are received at the foodbank, the items are added to the computerized inventory. Agencies can go online and build their orders. With the constantly changing inventories, they can expose their clients to a greater variety of food.

When the orders come in, they are gathered in the loading area, with the cold items added last.

“We try to get their orders out in a timely manner because these agencies often have volunteers to come in specifically to unload the orders,” Goodwin said.