Food banks all over the country, like the Food Bank of Delaware (FBD), celebrate National Food Bank Day on the first Friday of September (Sept. 6th in 2024). This special day brings attention to the Food Bank network but the need for monetary or food donations as well as volunteers is crucial all year long in the quest by these organizations to help ensure that no one goes to bed hungry.
These banks rely on volunteers to provide food to the poor, and they also promote tools for self-sufficiency. National Food Bank Day is intended to honor the workers, volunteers and charities who contribute to these efforts.
Food Bank News estimates that there are more than 370 food banks across the U.S. These help approximately 42 million men, women and children who struggle with putting food on the table, according to the National Day Calendar. Reasons range from illness to job loss and in general, a tough season where extra support is desperately needed.
The FBD is a classic example of how a food bank helps a community via an integrated and efficient approach. According to the organization’s website, it solicits, stores, and distributes food through a network of “hunger relief partners” such as food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters and other food providers. With headquarters in Newark, there is a local branch office right here in Milford.
They offer helpful suggestions on how to make monetary and food donations including fundraising for food, hosting a food drive, dropping off food donations at one of the two physical locations. The site also includes an Amazon Wish List that highlights most needed items.
The FBD operates a fleet of trucks and warehouses with industrial size refrigeration and freezer space. It is the only facility in the state with the equipment, warehouse, and staff to collect donations from all sections of the food industry and efficiently redistribute them to those in need.
The FBD relies on its volunteer base to take on tasks like sorting food donations, packing bags and boxes, assisting in the food pantry, helping at a mobile pantry or the organization’s farms either at Newark or Milford.
One unique feature of the operation is the Food Bank’s five-acre farm located adjacent to the Newark headquarters building. It consists of a propagation house, four large greenhouses, a demonstration garden, beehives, fruit trees, and a growing space for annual crops. Vegetables are grown year-round. Most of the produce is distributed through the Food Bank’s Healthy Pantry Center and is also sold at the FBD’s Discover Café in Newark. Revenue from the Café helps defray operating costs. Salads, sandwiches, wraps and daily specials are available at very affordable prices.
The Food Bank of Delaware does more than grow, collect, and distribute food. Its new Kitchen/Culinary School program offers adults with disabilities specialized training to provide employment opportunities in the food and hospitality industries. It is offered through a partnership with the Delaware Restaurant Association, and it incorporates produce grown on the Food Bank’s farm. Twelve-week curriculum/training sessions are scheduled in September, January, and May at both the Newark and Milford facilities.
Monetary and food donation support is more important now since Covid-related government funds have been curtailed. Even pop star Taylor Swift is doing her part to fill the gap. According to a recent Associated Press story, since last March and without fanfare, she has donated the equivalent of hundreds of meals to help feed the growing numbers of Americans who are grappling with increasing food and housing costs.
So why not take some time to think a bit more about a resource many of us take for granted, our daily bread. Is there a way you can give back this National Food Bank Day? Could you research a local food pantry or soup kitchen, and learn more about their needs? How about a few extra cans in your shopping cart each trip to pass on to those less fortunate? (Some grocery stores even have a receptacle by the exit where you can donate your extra purchased groceries to a local organization.) AND if you like to cook, don’t miss the Food and Chef event at the Milford FBD on September 19 from 5:30-8 pm. Link is https://www.fbd.org/farmer/
Mary Jo Tarallo spent much of her career in public relations with various non-profits and spent 40 years involved with the ski industry as a journalist, public relations director for a national trade association and as executive director of the Learn to Ski and Snowboard initiative. Prior to her ski industry involvement she worked for the Maryland International Center in Baltimore and United Way of Central Maryland. She won a Gold Award for TV programming for a United Way simulcast that starred Ophrah Winfrey. She has been cited for her work by numerous organizations. Mary Jo grew up in Baltimore, attended the University of Maryland and Towson University, lived in Washington, DC for 21 years and has been a full time resident of Rehoboth Beach and Milton since May 2019.
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