By RICK A. RICHARDS
Indiana Correspondent SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It was Christmas in spring at the Food Bank of Northern Indiana on April 19. Officials with Indiana Pork, along with other agriculture partners, announced the delivery of 7,500 pounds of ground pork, the first of what is expected to be 28,000 pounds to the food bank over the next few months.
On April 20, an identical donation of 7,500 pounds of pork was given to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington, Ind., which serves Owen, Monroe, Brown, Lawrence, Martin and Orange counties.
Even though Indiana’s pork producers have been hit hard in the economic downturn, that hasn’t stopped the organization from fulfilling a pledge made years ago to provide one million meals for hungry Hoosiers. To provide these, it is expected the state’s pork producers and supporting organizations will donate more than 250,000 pounds of pork by the time the program is done.
Mike Platt, executive director of Indiana Pork, said the organization was proud to be involved in such an ambitious effort.
“We represent about 3,000 pork producers around Indiana,” said Platt. “For years, our producers have been donating product in their local communities.
“Indiana pork producers raise eight million hogs every year. That will feed every single Hoosier, plus 20 million others across the United States.”
Those numbers, plus the growing demand being placed on food banks around the state, led Indiana Pork to devise the million-meal effort.
“Pork producers have been suffering like everyone else, but we recognize we have a responsibility to our communities,” said Platt.
Mark York, a first-generation hog farmer in Roann, in Wabash County, is president of Indiana Pork. “Three years ago when we were talking about this one million meals program, the industry was profitable, much more so than the last two years,” he said.
But despite the economic downtown – in which a good friend of York’s was forced to leave the business – the industry pushed ahead with the effort.
“It was important to Indiana and the local food banks,” he said. “I raise about 12,000 pigs and I’ve been at it for 11 years. It’s been extremely tough on some of our members, but those of us who have survived are doing what we can to help. I look at this as my calling. I love doing it.”
Lisa Jaworski, CEO of the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, said the value of the pork donation couldn’t be overstated. As she held up a two-pound portion of pork, she said, “Throughout the year we supply food to 200 agencies, pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, senior centers and youth programs in six counties (LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Starke, Marshall and Kosciusko).
“Last year we had a 30 percent increase over the previous year and gave out four million pounds of food. That’s a lot, and the donation of pork is very important for us as we strive to get more nutritionally sound food to our clients. This is a great gift.”
At the same time, she and Emily Weikert Bryant, executive director of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry (FISH), an Indianapolis coalition that oversees the state’s network of 11 food banks, revealed the results of a survey detailing the extent of hunger in Indiana. The 2010 Hunger Study is the first since 2006 and was conducted by Feeding America (formerly known as America’s Second Harvest), the nation’s largest organization of emergency food providers.
The study is the first that looks at the connection between the recent economic downturn and the increasing need for emergency food assistance. Jaworski said it shows the Food Bank of Northern Indiana provided help to 11,400 people a week and 123,700 people a year – more than 54,000 of them children.
In 2006, the food bank distributed 2.83 million pounds of food; from July 2008-June 2009, it distributed 3.22 million pounds. Jaworski said almost half of all food bank clients are children under 18 or seniors 65 and older, and that it’s impossible to tell by looking at someone whether they need help.
“We get people who look at the cars in our parking lot and say, ‘What’s that Cadillac doing out there?’ Maybe they live in Granger and they’ve lost their job and they’ve lost their home, and now they live in that car,” she explained.
Bryant pointed out another startling statistic: 28 percent of all households being helped had at least one person working – “So, we’re serving a lot of the working poor.”
She said statewide, 46 percent of food bank clients had to choose at least once in the previous 12 months between buying food or paying the utility bill.
She also said 117,900 Hoosiers get food assistance each week, and that 694,500 visit food banks annually.
In 2006, she said FISH distributed 34.4 million pounds of food; from July 2008-July 2009, more than 42 million pounds of food was distributed statewide.
Mike Moorehouse, a corn and soybean farmer from New Paris and a board member of the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA), is proud to be a part of the million-meal effort.
“As a father, I know how important a well balanced meal is,” said Moorehouse. “As a partner with Indiana Pork, this will provide 30,000 meals in the South Bend area. Today’s donation is part of a 200,000-meal donation we’ve pledged through our soybean checkoff.”
In addition to helping feed the hungry, Moorehouse said the ISA wanted to show its support of the state’s livestock producers by getting involved in the effort: “I feel good about being involved in this. When I think of my family, I can’t help but think of those without jobs and who can’t get jobs. We need to give back.”
Also helping with the effort is Farm Credit Services Midwest, based in Louisville, Ky. Jim Durr, regional vice president in Rochester, Ind., said the lender made a $25,000 donation to the million-meal effort, which he said will provide about 100,000 meals. Platt said Indiana Pork sought the support of other organizations because it simply couldn’t donate pigs to food banks.
“They have to be processed and there’s a lot involved, so we’ve had a lot of our producers donate the equivalent of one pig per month. If they all do that, we will get to one million meals,” he said.
As of April 19, Platt said Indiana Pork was halfway to its $250,000 goal. “Indiana is blessed with a rich and abundant agricultural economy. There’s no reason anyone in our state should go without a meal,” he said.
“We’re encouraging all of our partners in agriculture to join us to help make Indiana the first hunger-free state in the nation.”
York said making a donation in April will have an immediate impact on food banks. |
