Second Harvest Column: Where We Are

By Lois Rockhill

Do you know where the Second Harvest Food Bank warehouse is? Up until November last year, you may have noticed it at the corner of 14th and Meridian streets in downtown Anderson, particularly if you found yourself stopped at the traffic light or eating at Real Hacienda.

Now you would need to be traveling Indiana 35 or Indiana 3 north of Muncie to see our sign on a complex of buildings next to the Water Bowl.

Chances are you see our trucks more often than our building. One has our cornucopia logo on it, another has cans of food. The third is identified with the ConAgra Feeding Children Better logo. These vehicles extend our reach into the eight counties that make up our service area. They are on the road daily with a heavy schedule of donation pickup and food delivery.

Usually, food delivery is targeted to the 130 programs receiving food from our warehouse. These deliveries are scheduled weekly. Pantry reps and staff from programs in our network order the food they want from our all-inclusive inventory list that is updated on our Web page every morning. More than 60,000 pounds of food, about 10 percent of our inventory, goes out each week to programs providing food to needy neighbors. Another 16,000 pounds are distributed through our Tailgate Program, with two deliveries per week adding up to one tailgate a month in each of our eight counties.

The Tailgate Program can be considered a supplement to the pantries and meal programs in each county. Pantries might be open daily, weekly, monthly or bi-monthly. Some are open multiple times a week but limit the number of times per month a person can come in for food. Capacity to serve and resources with which to serve often determine how often the site is open and how often a client can visit. The Tailgate Program offers one more way for low-income people to get food for their families.

Second Harvest staff works with local charities and businesses to set up the tailgate schedule. Joe Fox does the scheduling and selects the food items for the food distribution. Dan Terrill, the driver, is responsible for hauling the food to the site and overseeing the distribution process. He counts on volunteers from our network and from local businesses to be there to help load client cars and keep a count of those served. Gary Benefiel is our alternate driver.

During an average tailgate, 8,000 pounds of food is given out in less than two hours to 250 families. Each family gets four or five items. Items could include fresh produce, a case of a beverage, a meal component such as soup, and a snack item. What is given depends on what is available at the Second Harvest Food Bank warehouse.

We try to keep the same monthly schedule for each county, but any tailgate distribution is subject to change. People interested in attending as volunteers or recipients should check their local newspapers and radio stations to confirm dates and times. You can also confirm at our Web site www.curehunger.org.

For the month of February we have scheduled as follows:

• Saturday – The Horizon Center (Super Saturday) in Muncie, 10 a.m.

• Friday, Feb. 8 – Blackford County Fairgrounds in Hartford City, 10 a.m.

• Friday, Feb. 8 - Wabash Senior Citizen Center in Wabash, 11 a.m.

• Friday, Feb. 15 – Moose Family Center in New Castle with United Fund, 9 a.m.

• Friday, Feb. 22 – St. Martin Community Center in Marion, 12:30 p.m.

• Friday, Feb. 29 – Buley Community Center in Muncie, 9 a.m.

• Friday, Feb. 29 – Athletic Park in Anderson, 2 p.m.

Tailgates in Jay and Randolph counties are to be announced for February. We need volunteers for both counties in order to schedule. Portland and Winchester are the usual locations. Children and Family Services board members, staff and volunteers usually provide strong leadership for the tailgate distributions in those counties but are unable to do so in February.

Anyone interested in helping out at any tailgate should phone Tiffany Jones or Joe Fox at Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana. You can reach us at (765) 287-8698.

(Lois Rockhill is executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana. She can be reached at lrockhill@curehunger.org.)

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