This is from our Spring 2008 Newsletter  --  Please Help

“Pantries brace as shelves go bare” Chicago Tribune 11/22/2007

Respond Now’s major source of food is the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD). The GCFD is a non-profit organization which distributes food to agencies such as Respond Now.  They collect food through the American Second Harvest network and donations made by private and government donors. Respond Now also receives food donated from individuals, community, and religious organizations through non-perishable "can drives".  Additionally, we purchase around 10% of the food which we distribute, from local sources.

Our dilemma is the GCFD has had to significantly cut back our no-cost food allotment because their supply of donated food is at its lowest level in recent memory. Also, they have not yet been able to give us an additional allotment to account for our satellite pantry in Sauk Village.

A combination of factors has pushed GCFD to cut back, not only Respond Now, but other food pantries in the area as well.  In fact, this is a national crisis. Chief among the factors affecting pantries is a sharp drop in surplus commodities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last fiscal year, GCFD saw the portion of its inventory provided by the government drop to 26 percent, down from 35 percent two years before. With brisk overseas trade and farm prices strong in recent years, the government has not had to buy as many excess peaches, surplus asparagus, chicken or other goods, which would then be distributed to food banks across the country.

Making matters worse, food manufacturers themselves have grown more efficient.  There are fewer extra and substandard -- but still edible -- items to donate, said Ross Fraser, spokesman for America's Second Harvest, a national network of food banks. What extra goods there are often end up on discount store shelves.

“I haven’t had to turn anyone away, because we are still working down our inventory of donated food from the holidays. But we have had to purchase much more food from GCFD and are substantially over our food budget. As our shelves grow emptier, more families are asking for help. A lot of people who come here for help do have jobs but their low or minimum wages don’t stretch to cover their food needs, so we are the stop-gap. Working poor families, the parents of young children and the elderly are the ones coming to us for assistance. I definitely see a “crunch time” coming”, says Carl Wolf, Respond Now’s Executive Director.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

As we see it, Respond Now has only three choices: We can ask for more donations so we can buy more food. We can ask that more food drives be held on our behalf. We can turn people away or cut the amount of food we distribute. We do not want to do the latter unless we absolutely have to, because it goes against our basic mission.

We are, therefore, asking that you be as generous as possible with your cash donations. If some one writes a check to us so we can buy food, it costs the donor about 25 percent less than if they gave the same dollars values worth of food. We do not buy this extra food at retail, we buy it through the GCFD at greatly subsidized rates. We can leverage your donated dollar into about ten dollars worth of food.

What about food drives? They are good things. There is no such thing a  bad container of food given in love and charity to feed the needy. Food drives, however, are not optimal because the food purchased for food drives is way too expensive. However, we are not suggesting an end to food drives. In fact, we are asking churches, businesses, civic organizations and schools to conduct food drives for us on a periodic basis to help alleviate this critical shortage .