By Jim Raykie
-----
---- —
The Community Food Warehouse of the Shenango Valley has long been one of my favorite organizations for a number of good reasons.
Topping the list, it has performed admirably in supplying food to people in need since it opened in the basement of The Herald in 1983. To use the popular phrase, “You’ve come a long way baby!” In a nutshell, the warehouse is a safety net for people who without it would go hungry.
When I look at the size of the operation today, and compare it to the several rows of pallets containing basic food items that we stored at The Herald in the early years, I’m amazed at the growth of the warehouse. On the downside, that means our problem of area residents needing food has escalated at an alarming pace.
Good friend Michael Wright, president and CEO of the Shenango Valley Urban League, deftly headed the warehouse for more than 20 years until December 2005. After accepting the Urban League job, he passed the baton to his longtime assistant Lori Weston, and she has been running since and has never looked back.
It’s not just a job to Lori, but a passion to help the less fortunate, and she has been building on the foundation built by Wright and others for the last five years. On top of the daily grind, she and her small staff enabled the transition last spring from the warehouse’s former Farrell location to Sharon with minimal disruption.
The warehouse’s importance in our area grows daily. In sound economic times, a great many of our struggling neighbors and friends are in need of food. Imagine that need during the tough-go we have experienced in the last several years, and it gives you some idea of how busy things are at the former A&P building on Walnut Street near Bank Place.
I had the opportunity to tour the remodeled facility a couple of months ago, and you leave understanding why it is such a respected organization. For all of the intricacies of the job at hand, you walk away realizing it’s really a straightforward process that its supporters can understand.
The food comes in from a variety of sources, and the food goes out to a network of pantries and into the hands of people who need it. It’s an efficient operation with minimal red tape, but it’s not nearly as simple as it sounds. Lori and her staff make it that way.
The Herald’s Good News Fund, in cooperation with the warehouse, has been raising money to buy turkeys for area families for the last 17 years. Through mostly small donations from residents and larger ones from groups and organizations, we have had successful drives every year. I attribute that success mainly to the reputation of the warehouse. Donors understand that every cent of their contribution is spent on food, and distributed efficiently and equitably.
But as the staff at the warehouse has realized for a long time, the need for food grows daily. With Mercer County facing a double-digit unemployment rate, the task at hand is challenging. Keep in mind that the jobless rate includes only the unemployed still collecting benefits. The number of people not working is much larger when considering the many whom have fallen from the rolls.
A major fundraiser for food on the horizon is the first 5K/2-Mile Walk on Sunday, Sept. 26 in Buhl Park. The run begins at 10 a.m. and the walk will follow. In addition to entry fees for race and walk participants, sponsorships are being sold at levels ranging from $100 to $500.
Since $15 worth of food can be bought through the Feeding America national food bank network with every dollar contributed to the warehouse, it’s a deal that’s hard to pass up. The goal for this year is $33,333, which will buy nearly $500,000 worth of food for area residents. That’s an unbeatable return on investment.
Joe Mielecki, who coordinated the annual Dale Pokorney Memorial Run for several years, is the race chairman. Any questions can be directed to him at 724-962-1477 or to Carol Swartz at 724-981-0353. For a race application and other information, check the organization’s website at www.foodwarehouse.org
Look at it this way: An $18 entry fee ($7 for the race or walk and optional $11 for a commemorative T-shirt) will buy $270 worth of food for local people. Your support of the warehouse enables it to carry out its mission to provide food to people in need, and to fulfill the spirit of its motto taken from the Gospel of Matthew: “For I was Hungry and You Gave Me Food.”
Get your walking or running shoes ready.
Jim Raykie is the editor of The Herald and writes this column on Mondays. His e-mail is jraykie@sharonherald.com or you can find him on Facebook at www.facebbok.com/jim.raykie
