Food Bank strives to break cycle of hunger

After nearly a year on the job, Kent Eikenberry, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank is still surprised at the need for the Food Bank’s services. “It’s hard to comprehend that there are that many people with food concerns living in our area,” he said.

The ultimate goal of the NWA Food Bank is to help break the cycle of poverty. We want to support those organizations who have programs to do that as well as support clients so they don’t have to worry about food, Eikenberry said.

The Food Bank employees 21 part- and full-time employees and works with 145 food pantries in a four-county area – Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties.In addition to distributing food to pantries, the Food Bank is trying to improve nutrition education so people will east as healthy as possible, Eikenberry said.

The food pantries shop online to see what’s available to purchase and then come to the warehouse on June Shelf Drive to pick them up the items which have been boxed up. The participating pantries have a shared maintenance fee up to 18 cents a pound for food whether it’s a canned good or a protein product, such as meat, he said. This shared maintenance fee is similar to a handling charge, there is no fee for the product itself. The Food Bank also distributes perishable foods, such as produce, dairy and bakery items.

The Food Bank purchases food items by the pallet, which makes the food cheaper than it can be purchased at the grocery store. His agency serves on average 75 food pantries a week, he said.

Besides helping with the food pantries, the Food Bank sends out Senior Mobile Pantries every Thursday to six locations. The mobile pantries serve 80 to 120 people a week. Eikenberry hopes to expand to more locations by the end of the year.

Those receiving assistance from the mobile pantries must be at least 55 years of age. The seniors receive prepacked boxes that contain shelf stable items and Eikenberry expects they will start receiving frozen proteins before the end of the year. Tyson Foods has donated funds to buy and convert a van to a refrigerated unit so that frozen products can be taken to the distribution sites.

A majority of the pantries served by the Food Bank are associated with area churches, who operate their own food drives.

However, they can get products less expensively from the Food Bank than they can buy someplace else, said Eikenberry, who pointed out that $1 spent at the Food Bank will produce five meals.

People shouldn’t hesitate about giving money to their local pantries because they can stretch their food purchases, he said.

Gerald Demory, director of operations at the Food Bank, has a shopping list of more than 60 items that he searches for on a regular basis. He’s looking for good buys on truckloads of canned goods, peanut butter, jelly, macaroni and cheese, cereal and ramen noodles. These are staple items that the organization can’t get enough of through donations. He said the base price is set by Feeding America’s food sources and then he sets out to beat the prices.“We have to watch every penny,” said Demory who has been in the grocery business since he was 12 years old. Prior to coming to the Food Bank, he worked on the wholesale side of the business, traveling in four states. “We get the most for our dollars.” He usually tracks down five to six trucks a month of various products. A truck holds approximately 3,300 cases. With mac and cheese, for example, the Food Bank will use 600 cases a month.

Demory also helps the Food Bank monitor and inspect 14 pantries that serve as USDA food commodities centers. And he also assists with state food commodities through the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, which is sponsored by the state of Arkansas.

Eikenberry also encouraged people to make monetary contributions to the Food Bank so it can purchase more food to distribute to the food pantries.