Foodbanks

[Michael]

I'm curious about how these foodbanks operate in the USA.

I'm curious because the "Daily Bread Food Bank" is the largest and best known one up here and it changed its operation a few years ago and has been complaining about shortages of donations ever since.

Apparently every foodbank in the USA is also complaining about shortages so I'm wondering if the same dynamic is causing the shortage.

A bit of history: The Daily Bread Food Bank used to receive donations of food and money. They used the money to buy more food and to pay rent, and gave all the food away. All labor was provided by volunteers. Very simple, typical charity.

But that's not how the Daily Bread Food Bank operates any more. Now, it has a unionized labor force (fully paid, with benefits) and this sucks up every penny of donations that the Food Bank gets (leaving ZERO dollars to buy food). Volunteers are BANNED from helping out because that steals jobs from the union. And since the vast majority of monetary donations to the Food Bank now goes to pay union-scale wages, the Daily Bread Food Bank has been constantly short of food to give away. They have thus reduced the size of their operation (less food serving less people) in every city they operate in.

This Daily Bread Food Bank is listed as a charity and constantly begs for donations (in cash please!).

As such, I stopped donating to the Daily Bread Food Bank several years ago and will not donate anything to them. I refuse to support union-scale wages as a "charity".

Now my study of political history has taught me that just about every change one can observe in Canada is always just an echo of a trend that began in the USA. So I'm curious if the Food Banks in the USA are similarly run by union-paid labor (hence, a never-ending shortage of donations for food).

Here's a bunch of US Foodbank stories (all complaining about falling levels of donation support - all sound EXACTLY like the Daily Bread Food Bank (which goes to great lengths to deny/hide their unionized workforce and no volunteers policy).

http://www.enewspf.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11688:house-ways-and-means-subcommittee-examines-the-increasing-demand-on-food-banks-and-charities-on-the-front-line&catid=88888983:latest-national-news&Itemid=88889930

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11557211

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6732297.html

http://www.gbfb.org/turkey-drive/index.html

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/money/thanksgiving-turkey-drive-11-22-2009

(note to self: you really ought to avoid these mickey-mouse newspaper websites - they are all loaded with video ads, pop-ups and will lockup your browser while they load very slowly - the Fox one is the absolute worst of the bunch).

[dilettante]

The closest thing to these I've been closely involved with have been 'rescue missions'. They provide food, shelter and clothing to the poor and homeless, and sometimes job training programs and chapel services. They've all been primarily volunteer operations (I think a small group of permenant staff is paid, but most of the work is volunteer based). In college we used to head over to one two or three times a year to either serve food or do painting/construction. Here in Philly we send another rescue mission money every year (I'm not sure what it says about us that we've transitioned from primarily supplying labor to primarily supplying money...).
We've occasionally dropped off groceries at a food bank in my wife's hometown in Arkansas (usually around Christmas when we're there to visit), but we don't have any real relationship with that organization. As best I can tell, they just stock the shelves if anyone who needs food can come get it for free. It looks like a pretty simple operation. How many employees does a food bank really need?

[Americano]

I'm very familiar with our local food bank, know the people there and their operations. It's a division of a charity headquartered in Southern Oregon that specializes in food banks and housing homeless, disturbed adolescents and teens in formal facilities. They're very professional, no union, pay market wages (peanuts here) and utilize as many volunteers as they can attract. I have a very high opinion of their societal contributions.

Our county formerly operated the food bank, complete with high-priced/benefited civil servants and the associated politics. When the economy collapsed, that department was one of the first to go as revenues dried up and the administrators scrambled to stay on the gravy train by displacing others in the county kingdom with less seniority.

Food donations here are currently at acceptable levels, its a calculation by poundage I won't bore you with, but cash contributions have dried up. Demand will soon outpace supply. The community effort is very strong with constant food drives and accompanying publicity.

[Americano]

The closest thing to these I've been closely involved with have been 'rescue missions'. They provide food, shelter and clothing to the poor and homeless, and sometimes job training programs and chapel services. They've all been primarily volunteer operations (I think a small group of permenant staff is paid, but most of the work is volunteer based). In college we used to head over to one two or three times a year to either serve food or do painting/construction. Here in Philly we send another rescue mission money every year (I'm not sure what it says about us that we've transitioned from primarily supplying labor to primarily supplying money...).
We've occasionally dropped off groceries at a food bank in my wife's hometown in Arkansas (usually around Christmas when we're there to visit), but we don't have any real relationship with that organization. As best I can tell, they just stock the shelves if anyone who needs food can come get it for free. It looks like a pretty simple operation. How many employees does a food bank really need?

Number of employees/volunteers is entirely dependent on scope of the operation. To serve even a small community in an effective manner requires a paid facilities manager, box van with paid driver/helper and one facilities (warehouse) worker.

The van is used to collect out of sell date perishables and other donations from local markets on a daily basis, food gathered by local food drives (businesses and community organizations sponsor the drives but the proceeds have to be picked up) and deliveries of donations to kitchens preparing food for the disadvantaged.

Those positions have to be paid for two primary purposes:

1. A manager has to schedule pickups and deliveries, account for donation volume/dispersion/charity legal reporting, interact with local food drives and manage employee/volunteer time. Driver and helper/warehouse worker(s) are no different than a for-profit business, they have to be there every business day.

2. While volunteers are absolutely necessary for a food bank to be successful, they're just that, volunteers with other responsibilities in their lives. They don't always show up, a majority are retired with strenuous warehouse type labor not being suitable for their aged bodies and last but not least a full-time responsibility of volunteer work is unattractive to most individuals.

[Michael]

All that sounds entirely reasonable. But city life is a bit different since the scales are rather larger.

Indeed, Toronto has way more population than all of Arkansas and pretty much the same population as the whole of Oregon, so obviously the scale of operations would me comparatively larger here than in smaller towns.

Anyway, I'm just curious if this unionized food bank is an anomoly or a commonplace in other big cities. Obviously smaller towns aren't going to have a big enough operation for it to be dependent upon a substantial labor force.

Personally, I hate it and won't support it because I'm not donating to charity where the money goes first to pay union-wage and only buys food if there is any money leftover after that.

[Michael]

How many employees does a food bank really need?
In the big city? Quite a few. They do talk about serving 10,000-20,000 people per month. That's a lot of donated goods to deal with.

If you don't control/monitor the dispursement, you are going to have some 'enterprising' people roll up in vans to clear out the place and re-sell the product.

[Americano]

All that sounds entirely reasonable. But city life is a bit different since the scales are rather larger.
It's a matter of scope, volume equals more logistical requirements.

Indeed, Toronto has way more population than all of Arkansas and pretty much the same population as the whole of Oregon, so obviously the scale of operations would me comparatively larger here than in smaller towns.

It is a matter of scale, volume driving logistical requirements, but operating fundamentals remain the same.

Anyway, I'm just curious if this unionized food bank is an anomoly or a commonplace.

Never heard of it in the US but I don't any national familiarity with the subject.

Personally, I hate it and won't support it because I'm not donating to charity where the money goes first to pay union-wage and only buys food if there is any money leftover after that.

I don't blame you. I'd be curious as to salary levels of the managers. If those are also out of proportion to the charity industry it would seem to be a questionable charity.

[Michael]

I don't blame you. I'd be curious as to salary levels of the managers. If those are also out of proportion to the charity industry it would seem to be a questionable charity.

Well, that's hardly a good line of inquiry. The United Way famously hoovers up between 40-60% of all donations for 'administration' and has impressive offices with a prestige address. This seems like the 'norm' to me, rather than smaller volunteer operations. I'm not just talking about foodbanks either - I'm talking about every kind of charity.

I don't know if you have "United Way" down there - but they are a high-profile charity 'umbrella' organization for hundreds of smaller charities.

[Americano]

Well, that's hardly a good line of inquiry. The United Way famously hoovers up between 40-60% of all donations for 'administration' and has impressive offices with a prestige address. This seems like the 'norm' to me, rather than smaller volunteer operations. I'm not just talking about foodbanks either - I'm talking about every kind of charity.

I don't know if you have "United Way" down there - but they are a high-profile charity 'umbrella' organization for hundreds of smaller charities.

We have them here. Several decades of scandals. Large US charity leaderships in general have long been 'reward' positions for failed politicians and family and cronies of the very wealthy.

[Lily]

We have them here. Several decades of scandals. Large US charity leaderships in general have long been 'reward' positions for failed politicians and family and cronies of the very wealthy.

I do not contribute through the United Way, preferring instead to give my money to individual groups such as our local community radio. My place of employment, which I recently left, pushed hard for 100% compliance for payroll deduction to the United Way. After I declined to participate, I was visited by none other than the the CFO of the hospital who wanted to know why. I told him what I've stated here. He was not happy. Although I had no aspirations to climb the corporate ladder at this particular hospital, something tells me that if I had, my lack of participation would have been somewhat of a problem.

[Michael]

I do not contribute through the United Way, preferring instead to give my money to individual groups such as our local community radio. My place of employment, which I recently left, pushed hard for 100% compliance for payroll deduction to the United Way. After I declined to participate, I was visited by none other than the the CFO of the hospital who wanted to know why. I told him what I've stated here. He was not happy. Although I had no aspirations to climb the corporate ladder at this particular hospital, something tells me that if I had, my lack of participation would have been somewhat of a problem.

It most certainly would have been an issue for advancement. Doesn't surprise me one bit either. I've heard of others getting intensely personal pressure from their CEO's to support the United Way. In big corporations, it seems almost cult-like with their silly stunt-like charity events and demands for 100% participation. Pressure from bosses to meet the corporate fundraising goal are as intense as the pressure to meet sales quotas.

The United Way seems to be only popular amongst the elite set (large corporations, big unions and government) and those who work for them being strong-armed into supporting it.

People outside that loop seem to see the organization as bloated or wasteful.

[Americano]

I do not contribute through the United Way, preferring instead to give my money to individual groups such as our local community radio. My place of employment, which I recently left, pushed hard for 100% compliance for payroll deduction to the United Way. After I declined to participate, I was visited by none other than the the CFO of the hospital who wanted to know why. I told him what I've stated here. He was not happy. Although I had no aspirations to climb the corporate ladder at this particular hospital, something tells me that if I had, my lack of participation would have been somewhat of a problem.

That's always been an annual game among corporate officers. Makes a nice achievement comment on the resume with little to no personal effort.

[Non Sequitur]

I'm curious about how these foodbanks operate in the USA.

I'm curious because the "Daily Bread Food Bank" is the largest and best known one up here and it changed its operation a few years ago and has been complaining about shortages of donations ever since.

Apparently every foodbank in the USA is also complaining about shortages so I'm wondering if the same dynamic is causing the shortage.

A bit of history: The Daily Bread Food Bank used to receive donations of food and money. They used the money to buy more food and to pay rent, and gave all the food away. All labor was provided by volunteers. Very simple, typical charity.

But that's not how the Daily Bread Food Bank operates any more. Now, it has a unionized labor force (fully paid, with benefits) and this sucks up every penny of donations that the Food Bank gets (leaving ZERO dollars to buy food). Volunteers are BANNED from helping out because that steals jobs from the union. And since the vast majority of monetary donations to the Food Bank now goes to pay union-scale wages, the Daily Bread Food Bank has been constantly short of food to give away. They have thus reduced the size of their operation (less food serving less people) in every city they operate in.

This Daily Bread Food Bank is listed as a charity and constantly begs for donations (in cash please!).

As such, I stopped donating to the Daily Bread Food Bank several years ago and will not donate anything to them. I refuse to support union-scale wages as a "charity".

Now my study of political history has taught me that just about every change one can observe in Canada is always just an echo of a trend that began in the USA. So I'm curious if the Food Banks in the USA are similarly run by union-paid labor (hence, a never-ending shortage of donations for food).

Here's a bunch of US Foodbank stories (all complaining about falling levels of donation support - all sound EXACTLY like the Daily Bread Food Bank (which goes to great lengths to deny/hide their unionized workforce and no volunteers policy).

http://www.enewspf.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11688:house-ways-and-means-subcommittee-examines-the-increasing-demand-on-food-banks-and-charities-on-the-front-line&catid=88888983:latest-national-news&Itemid=88889930

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11557211

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6732297.html

http://www.gbfb.org/turkey-drive/index.html

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/money/thanksgiving-turkey-drive-11-22-2009

(note to self: you really ought to avoid these mickey-mouse newspaper websites - they are all loaded with video ads, pop-ups and will lockup your browser while they load very slowly - the Fox one is the absolute worst of the bunch).

We haven't had that problem, but then our food bank is run jointly by all the churches in the area. Volunteers come from inside and outside the church and there is a steady stream of youth volunteers because it's usually required for their service project. The real problem has been the huge jump in people needing the food bank. A lot more people are using it this year that last.

[Americano]

We haven't had that problem, but then our food bank is run jointly by all the churches in the area. Volunteers come from inside and outside the church and there is a steady stream of youth volunteers because it's usually required for their service project. The real problem has been the huge jump in people needing the food bank. A lot more people are using it this year that last.

The economic bust has charities in my area very concerned with increased demand, which is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. We're already seeing chain markets selling perishables to pig farms for the revenue. While food donations are still meeting demand, again, cash donations are declining. It still takes cash to provide facilities, operate vehicles, pay professional managers and insure the operation.