Northern Utah CCS Food Bank receives food supply

Intermountain Catholic

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Jess Burciaga, warehouse manager at the Catholic Community Services Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank at 2504 F Street in Ogden, weighs a food box brought in from Smith's Food and Drug during the food drive held Sept. 19. IC photo by Christine Young

OGDEN — "There is a greater need for food during the September-October time frame because our food supplies and pantries are low at the end of the summer," said Marcie Valdez, director of the Northern Utah Catholic Community Services Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank in Ogden.

"September is Hunger Action Month and so we worked with Smith’s Food and Drug and APX Alarm, who hosted a single-day food drive for the Alliance for Unity to receive food donations Sept. 19," said Valdez. "This was a statewide food assistance network, including regional food banks and community food pantries.

"We were really excited because our food supplies are lower than they have been at any other time so far this year," said Valdez. "This was a great boost to get us through the next couple of months until the holiday food drives start in October or early November."

Jess Burciaga, warehouse manager, weighed all the food that came in on the trucks from Smith’s Food and Drug Stores to the CCS Food Bank in Ogden.

"We were really lucky this year, we had an Eagle Scout who took this on as a project," said Valdez. "The Eagle Scout was Ian Stoker from Trapper Trails Troop 377. He took a lot of pressure off us to find volunteers and staff.

"We had three sites at CCS that were responsible for three Smith’s locations using two trucks and a trailer," said Valdez. "We had North Ogden Smith’s, South Ogden Smith’s, and the Sunset Smith’s. So Stoker worked hard to find enough volunteers to staff all three locations. They worked in two shifts, which were 9 a.m. to noon, and noon to 3 p.m.

"Last year this food drive was held in February, and we were able to collect 60,000 pounds of food, and we were hoping for the same amount this year," said Valdez.

"This year we collected 4,591 pounds of food, and we are always in need of food," said Valdez. "Food can be dropped off during our business hours from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Joyce Hansen Hall Food bank, 2504 F Avenue in Ogden. People do not have to wait for a food drive.

"Here at the Joyce Hansen Hall, we serve approximately 400 families every week, and each of those families receives an average of about 120 pounds of food," said Valdez. "So our goal is to provide each family or individual with enough food for 15 meals a month."

Valdez said when you equate that to monetary value, the food cart each family gets is valued at around $200. They can receive one cart per month. So it really does help them considerably, not only to meet their hunger needs, but also to free up their limited cash resources to help pay for other emergencies or needs they might have.

"The food pantry really serves a critical service for our low income families who are struggling to meet their basic needs of rent or other utility bills," said Valdez.

Valdez said there is a new program they hope to launch this month.

"We were lucky enough to be selected as the lead agency for Weber County for some stimulus funds for the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program through Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Rapid Rehousing is for people who are already homeless. So we will be providing rental assistance and homeless prevention services in Weber County.

"With this money there will be some very intensive case management that we will be able to do with each family to make sure that the rental assistance is not just a short-term band-aid," said Valdez. "With our case management, we are hoping to be able to make a long-term impact for these families and help them to connect to other resources in the community. We hope to help them with budgeting. This is a great program, and we are really excited. We are honored to have been chosen as the agency in Weber County.

"We will be working with many of our community partners," said Valdez. "We will be working with Saint Ann’s Homeless Shelter, YCC Domestic Violence Shelter, and the Homeless Veterans Fellowship. These will be agencies that will subcontract with us to provide easy access to their clients so their clients have access to the same funds.

"It is giving us the opportunity to kind of redefine how we provide services to the homeless population and families who are living in precarious situations," said Valdez. "So it is exciting and really great. And this is part of the federal stimulus funds. This is part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

"The money we are receiving is a two-and-a-half-year grant, and we are hoping we will be able to help 20 to 30 families each month," said Valdez. "Although that might not sound like a large number of people, for each of those families receiving the intensive case management and financial assistance, it will make a big difference in their lives. And hopefully our services will help to prevent them from becoming homeless again in the future. It seems that so many times in the past, the help we have been able to give people does not seem to go as far as it needs to in making lasting changes. Now we will be able to give them a hand up instead of just a hand out."

Valdez also explained Drop Days, which started as a way for the Food Bank to be able to provide fresh produce. Drop Days is a program run through the Utah Food Bank, and is an extra day on which anybody can come and receive food assistance. They do not have to show identification or proof of income, and it is open to anyone who is in need. It is first come, first served. The Utah Food Bank brings us a large semi-truck filled with food, and when it is gone, it is gone. But typically the CCS Northern Food Bank is able to help about 250 families on one particular day. It provides a little bit of extra help for these families.

"Where we provide one food box per month, this is an extra day that families can come and get food," said Valdez. "The idea, when it first started, was a way to provide fresh produce. So a lot of times there will be fresh produce provided. We do not typically see fresh produce throughout the week.

"Our CCS Sow for Humanity Project has been going great," said Valdez. "Our volunteer for the past month has been going around to our three gardens once a week picking produce and bringing it in on Mondays. We also have started a partnership with Bank of Utah in Ogden in which they set out boxes so people can drop off extra produce on Sunday evenings for us."