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Sunday conversation ... on Hunger
(Daily Oklahoman, The (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 4--Hunger is not just an urban issue, not just a rural issue. It is an Oklahoma issue. It is an American and a world issue.
Rodney Bivens, executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, knew this in the early days of the program when he drove from one church parking lot to another and distributed food out of a half-ton pickup.
And it's still a fact.
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, founded in 1980, is a private, nonprofit organization that acts as a link through which the food industry and community donate food and other goods. The products are then distributed to more than 500 charitable feeding programs in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties.
One of the key events in that effort is the sixth annual Feeding Hope and Letter Carriers Food Drive for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma scheduled to begin Monday.
The food and fund drive brings together businesses and individuals to collect canned food to benefit hungry Oklahomans.
Q: A half-million Oklahomans are at risk of going hungry every day. Let's take that from a half-million to an example of someone the food bank has helped recently.
A: Just recently there was a woman whose husband developed cancer. She was a stay-at-home mom. But because of the cancer he lost his job and she went to work to support her family.
She's had to go into one of our organizations and get food toward the end of each month, just to help them get through each month. She made the comment that if it wasn't for the food she gets through the food pantry she doesn't know what she would do. She never eats until her children are finished eating so she can always make sure they have enough.
Q: Hunger is a physical and emotional issue regardless of the age, but one fact seems to hit extra hard: One in five children in Oklahoma are at risk of going hungry each day. Please provide an example.
A: There was a little boy in elementary school who was acting out in class to the point that he was sent to the principal's office one morning.
The principal made the decision that the child needed to go home and started calling the parents to come and pick the child up.
The child started crying. The principal tried to calm him down and reassure him "It's going to be OK, we're going to get you back in school but I need to talk to your parents. You're going to have to go home for the rest of the day."
He said, "No. Don't send me home until I've had school lunch otherwise I won't have anything to eat when I get home tonight."
Q: Please share with me the story within the food bank's mission to help the charitable community feed people in need.
A: Use the image of a food wholesaler. We're the wholesaler. The retailer is really that church food pantry or the senior citizen feeding program that's feeding people. The Food Bank provides them the means to feed more people. So we really look at ourselves as the wholesaler trying to provide the food to others who are actually doing the work on a day-to-day basis.
Q: For every dollar donated, the Food Bank is able to return over $13 worth of food to the community. That's seven meals for each dollar. Please explain how this is possible.
A: One of the reasons it's possible is because we have so much product that is donated to us. Unfortunately, with the rapid increase in food costs, that is changing. The other reason is because of our volunteer force. More than 14,000 volunteers saved us around $500,000 in labor costs last year. Between donations and volunteers, we've been able to provide seven meals for every dollar on the average for the last seven years.
Q: Why is the Feeding Hope and Letter Carriers Food Drive for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma important and why has it been a success?
A: I think it's been successful because we try to make it easy for people. The letter carriers pass out a bag and all you have to do is fill it with canned food items and leave it by your mailbox by 8 a.m. on Saturday and they'll pick it up. The need is tremendous, because one of the items we need the most and rarely get donated is canned goods. Many of the products we distribute are highly perishable -- produce and things of that nature that are frozen. So we really need the canned goods that are donated through the food drive. It's a huge help to the people we serve.
Q: If you could leave one thing with readers to think of each day from what you've seen, what would that be?
A: Imagine your own children going to school on Monday morning hungry. That would be it.
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Copyright (c) 2008, The Oklahoman
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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