While most folks are excited to see America making progress against covid-19 and maybe rounding the corner in the months to come, food banks across Arkansas aren't seeing any sort of finish line in the days ahead.
Before the pandemic hit, there were more than 65,000 people in Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties who experts unfortunately call "food insecure." That's a spillover from corporate speak meaning just plain hungry, or living hand to mouth and could be hungry tomorrow.
When the pandemic began, that number shot up to 100,000. Those numbers are according to Julie Damer, director of marketing and communications for the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.
The food bank distributed nearly 16 million pounds of food and 13.25 million meals in 2020, Ms. Damer said. And it isn't like that need is going to decrease much in 2021.
"We expect the numbers we serve to be high for the foreseeable future," she said.
Kent Eikenberry, CEO of Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, told us while most folks are eyeing some kind of finish line for covid-19, he thinks the pandemic fallout will last a while longer.
"I like to think I am a glass half-full kind of guy, but the economic fallout of the pandemic is going to last far longer than people expect," he said. "That's why it's important that the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank works to position ourselves as the safety net for those who need us regardless of the situation."
Fortunately for the food bank, northwest Arkansas has consistently come through in emergencies. Ms. Damer said the food bank bought about $2 million in food to supplement donated food during 2020. That's about double the non-pandemic yearly average.
But, she added, more than 4,300 kind souls donated financially to the food bank for the first time last year. People stepped up when they knew things were tough.
One dollar donated equals eight meals for this food bank. If you want to hand over a few dollars, that can be done at www.nwafoodbank.org/donate.
Down in the southwest corner of the state in Texarkana, the Harvest Regional Food Bank also saw a big increase in need during the pandemic, doubling its first-time clients. That's according to Camille Wrinkle, executive director at the food bank. She said need is at least 30 percent higher now than it was before the pandemic.
While Ms. Wrinkle said she hopes turning the corner on the pandemic means more neighbors will be able to provide food for their families without assistance, the food bank will still be there to help even if that isn't the case.
Like Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, Harvest Regional Food Bank saw its community step up during the pandemic to answer the call and meet the increase in need.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional food and supplies were distributed throughout the food bank's 10-county region. That's the kind of results we like to see.
When we asked what "normal" looks like for the Harvest Regional Food Bank, Ms. Wrinkle told us they typically distribute about 3.2 million pounds of food to southwest Arkansas and northeast Texas. But over the last year, that number climbed to 5.5 million pounds of food.
Yet while that increased output was wonderful, Ms. Wrinkle said new sources of food during the pandemic, provided through USDA and new grants have now tapered off. But the need remains.
"We still need the community's support to continue providing crucial hunger relief through food, now, and hopefully provide long-term solutions in the near future," she said.
If you want to be part of that support, you can do so at harvestregionalfoodbank.org/donate.
Unsurprisingly, in the northern part of Arkansas, the pandemic also brought increased need. Jeff Quick is CEO of Food Bank of North Central Arkansas. He said direct services to individuals or clients of the food bank went up 94 percent in 2020.
His outfit in a typical year will distribute three million pounds of food. But in 2020, that number went up to 4.5 million pounds of food. In a normal year, the food bank will provide 2.5 million meals. In 2020, it served 3.7 million meals.
"It was a little overwhelming and continues to be," he said.
As more folks get vaccinated to try to put the pandemic out of mind, Mr. Quick said he's worried that focus on helping the food bank might dissipate. One of the reasons the food bank was able to help so much more during the pandemic was because of increased focus and what Mr. Quick called "amazing press." It put food bank donations at the top of mind for the public. Which led to increased resources to meet increased need.
What most folks consider "normal times" might be different than what those who are hungry consider "normal times," especially if they still need help putting food on the table.
During the pandemic, Mr. Quick said the food bank was able to use additional funds from USDA programs to help different agencies it supports. For example, they were able to purchase additional refrigeration space so agencies the food bank serves were able to store and distribute more food.
Food Bank of North Central Arkansas was also able to provide seven schools with $30,000 grants to develop on-campus pantries. It partnered with the Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce to provide $25,000 in micro grants to small businesses during the pandemic.
"If business owners have to close shop, employees are without payroll and might rely on the food bank. Partnering with the chamber headed that need off at the pass," Mr. Quick said.
In terms of need, the food bank partners with 83 hunger relief organizations. That's backpack programs, shelters, soup kitchens and school meal sites across nine counties.
In 2018, one in four children were considered in need throughout the food bank's service areas. Mr. Quick said it took a decade to recover from the financial crisis in 2008.
"We were just starting to turn the corner in 2019 and 2020 and were beginning to be encouraged. Then covid-19 hit," he said.
Looking to the future, Mr. Quick told us he fears attention will fade from just how much help the food bank needs, and resources will decline.
"The need is still going to be here," he said.
It's somewhat ironic that the pandemic, horrible as it has been, also brought renewed focus on everything the food bank does to serve its community, and that realization saw more support from the community. That allowed it to rise and meet the increased need.
"That has been a blessing to us," he said.
But if that attention fades, along with donations, the food bank runs the risk of things returning to "normal," then when the next crisis comes along, needs will increase, but hunger relief may get put on the back burner for too many.
"It means we have to be better than ever at sharing our stories and compelling people to participate in our work," he said.
If you're interested in participating, you can do that at www.foodbanknca.org/.
Food banks were there for Arkansans in need before and during the pandemic. They continue to be. If we want them to be around in the future to help keep feeding others, then we can't just ignore them when things get back to normal.
What's a more worthy cause than feeding the hungry? Seems we read something about that in The Good Book.