Investigating

We followed the directions almost dyeing when our driver got in death ally to into a furniture parking lot. This is where it was supposed to be but it was nowhere in sight. We get closer to a building that was separated from the other buildings in the parking lot. It didn’t look like a food bank, but we couldn’t tell what it was. We got close enough to read the sign and found that it was in fact the Food Bank. We walk through the doors and find ourselves in a cramped waiting area. There where seats lining a wall, bags of produce and birthday gift bags lined the others. It wasn’t at all what I had expected. We were immediately greeted by a volunteer and asked if she could help us. The boys lifted the bags of food that we had brought to donate. She led us to a small room that could have been a closet. She had us put the food on the scale. She then wrote our names and the weight of the food we had donated on a thank you paper. We asked if we could help out for an hour. She then led us to another room a little bigger than the other one. It had 5 freezers of meat and milk along the walls along with shelves of canned and boxed food. This was the room that they packed the individual bags they would give to families.

Quotes:

Their mission as Diane Albright, a volunteer, puts it is to "provide emergency food to those in need in the state college area and to support the network of food pantries in Centre County."

Craig Peery, a volunteer who has worked there for several years said, "They (the people) are always very grateful. Most places even in large cities are lucky if they have enough supplies to give out one can to people who come in, but here no one leaves with less than twenty-five pounds of food."

Megan Meister said, "Over the years, my family and I have faced financial difficulties, and the physical and mental relief that the Food Bank has given me and my family has been profound.”

Facts:

According to the “In order to use the State College Food Bank,” one must reside in the State College Area School District (or live in Julian and have a 692 phone number) AND have a referral from one of the agencies in the area such as the Community Help Center or the The Salvation Army of State College.

Did you know, despite being one of the most developed countries in the world, the U.S. generates about 34 million tons of wasted food each year according to United States Environmental Protection Agency. That amount of food takes up about 14.1% of our total solid waste.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, up to one-fifth of America’s food goes to waste, that would be approximately 130 pounds of food per person, which ends up in landfills throughout the United States.

Things I want to know more about:

Most of the people who go to food banks are not on welfare. If the government doesn’t think they need help then do they need help from the food bank?

Apparently in order to get food from a food bank you have to be referred. They will generally be approved for 8 visits in a 12 month period. He or she is able to determine when he can use those 8 visits, based on individual needs. Why is this set up this way?