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Do IT this week: Layering
By Bill Lilley
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 12:34 p.m. EST, Nov 19, 2009
NEWCOMERSTOWN: Janet Gore isn't your typical mom who goes shopping for groceries once a week, but she does have a lot of mouths to feed.
Gore's growing ''family'' includes nearly 5,000 people in a 10-mile radius served by the Journey's End Minstries food pantry located in this city in southern Tuscarawas County.
That's 5,000 out of a base population of about 8,000.
The average salary for those working in Newcomerstown is $22,539. Median household income is $27,414. Only 20 percent of the population makes above $50,000.
The unemployment rate in Tuscarawas County stands at 10.2 percent, according to state statistics.
''This is one of the most impoverished areas in the state,'' Gore said. ''There is really no industrialization to speak of, and there is high unemployment and little hope, especially for the younger people here.''
And there is a lot of hunger that Gore, as director of the Journey's End Ministries, has been forced to adapt to during her tenure as director over the past three years.
Gore said that in her first year, 2007, Journey's End Ministries distributed 146,000 pounds of food. Donations come from 15 area churches and the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
Last year, Journey's End Ministries distributed 402,000 pounds of food.
''This year will be even more demanding,'' Gore said. ''We project that we will have distributed around 725,000 pounds of food by the end of 2009.
''That's a staggering increase. We had to change to be able to handle that increase.''
Gore said the biggest change the pantry made was how food was distributed. Gone was the traditional method of a box of groceries once a month to each client.
''There was a lot waste, because each client received food that they liked and didn't like,'' she said. ''They just threw away the things they didn't like. That was a waste. In the situation we are in, we can't afford to be wasteful.''
Gore moved to a choice option that is becoming popular at pantries throughout the region.
''It operates as a superpantry — just like a supermarket,'' said Dan Flowers, president/CEO of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. ''People go through and pick the things that they want. The superpantries are very economical for all the people involved.''
Flowers said the superpantries are serving thousands of people who at this time last year weren't receiving food.
He also said his agency has become more cognizant of hunger in rural areas.
Flowers and Gore believe there is a common misconception that rural folks eat well because they live on farms and raise their own food.
''Hunger is a human problem,'' Flowers said, ''not just an urban problem. There is a big problem in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas.
''Over the last two years we have focused on developing the [Foodbank] to better handle our agencies in rural areas like Newcomerstown.''
Feeding America, the national food bank network, reports that nearly 43 percent of all households served by food banks around the country reside in suburban or rural areas.
Food distribution by Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank to agencies in Tuscarawas County is up 158 percent overall from last year. In neighboring Carroll County, where the rate of unemployment is above 13 percent, food distribution is up 121 percent.
Gore said the clients she deals with are pleased to have choices and are responding in responsible ways.
''They are only taking what they need,'' Gore said. ''And most are not coming in every week, as we allow them to. It's really been a great system.''
Flowers has been impressed as well.
''I hope we can take this concept and develop it in other agencies in the Foodbank area,'' he said. ''The clients are very, very respectful of what's being offered and the fact that they have a choice.''
That two agencies in Tuscarawas County, one of the eight counties the Foodbank serves, had astronomical gains in the last year hit Flowers and his crew hard.
Journey's End had received 652,199 pounds of food from Jan. 1 through Oct. 28 this year. It had gotten 243,000 pounds over the same period in 2008.
''Journey's End could go over a million pounds in a year very soon,'' Flowers said. ''That's incredible. That's how desperate it has become in that area.''
Even more stunning was the demand created at the relatively new Greater Dover-New Philadelphia Food Pantry.
It had a staggering growth from 52,017 pounds over the first 10 months of 2008 to 586,621 over the same period this year.
Those are now the top two agencies on the Foodbank's list for food distribution.
Gore has been forced to become a more economical shopper.
''The demand for food has increased dramatically, but the donations from the 15 churches in the area that support us is about the same,'' she said. ''Something had to give.
''We had to drop dramatically what we pay for the food to make it balance.''
Gore said she focuses on as much free food as she can get from the Foodbank.
''Potatoes are a big item,'' she said. Her agency has received 12,000 free bags so far this year.
Her efforts at cost control have allowed the agency to spend only about $36,000 this year for nearly 600,000 pounds of food.
Gore said Journey's End, which is in its 12th year of service, also became more efficient by acquiring a truck that can handle 10,000 pounds of food each trip and a 50-year-old forklift ''that had been sitting in field down here.''
''We have to do whatever we can to make it work,'' Gore said. ''We are an incredibly impoverished area down here.
''There is a lot of misconception about what it's like in rural areas like Newcomerstown. It's tough.''
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
NEWCOMERSTOWN: Janet Gore isn't your typical mom who goes shopping for groceries once a week, but she does have a lot of mouths to feed.
Gore's growing ''family'' includes nearly 5,000 people in a 10-mile radius served by the Journey's End Minstries food pantry located in this city in southern Tuscarawas County.
That's 5,000 out of a base population of about 8,000.
The average salary for those working in Newcomerstown is $22,539. Median household income is $27,414. Only 20 percent of the population makes above $50,000.
The unemployment rate in Tuscarawas County stands at 10.2 percent, according to state statistics.
''This is one of the most impoverished areas in the state,'' Gore said. ''There is really no industrialization to speak of, and there is high unemployment and little hope, especially for the younger people here.''
And there is a lot of hunger that Gore, as director of the Journey's End Ministries, has been forced to adapt to during her tenure as director over the past three years.
Gore said that in her first year, 2007, Journey's End Ministries distributed 146,000 pounds of food. Donations come from 15 area churches and the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
Last year, Journey's End Ministries distributed 402,000 pounds of food.
''This year will be even more demanding,'' Gore said. ''We project that we will have distributed around 725,000 pounds of food by the end of 2009.
''That's a staggering increase. We had to change to be able to handle that increase.''
Gore said the biggest change the pantry made was how food was distributed. Gone was the traditional method of a box of groceries once a month to each client.
''There was a lot waste, because each client received food that they liked and didn't like,'' she said. ''They just threw away the things they didn't like. That was a waste. In the situation we are in, we can't afford to be wasteful.''
Gore moved to a choice option that is becoming popular at pantries throughout the region.
''It operates as a superpantry — just like a supermarket,'' said Dan Flowers, president/CEO of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. ''People go through and pick the things that they want. The superpantries are very economical for all the people involved.''
Flowers said the superpantries are serving thousands of people who at this time last year weren't receiving food.
He also said his agency has become more cognizant of hunger in rural areas.
Flowers and Gore believe there is a common misconception that rural folks eat well because they live on farms and raise their own food.
''Hunger is a human problem,'' Flowers said, ''not just an urban problem. There is a big problem in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas.
''Over the last two years we have focused on developing the [Foodbank] to better handle our agencies in rural areas like Newcomerstown.''
Feeding America, the national food bank network, reports that nearly 43 percent of all households served by food banks around the country reside in suburban or rural areas.
Food distribution by Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank to agencies in Tuscarawas County is up 158 percent overall from last year. In neighboring Carroll County, where the rate of unemployment is above 13 percent, food distribution is up 121 percent.
Gore said the clients she deals with are pleased to have choices and are responding in responsible ways.
''They are only taking what they need,'' Gore said. ''And most are not coming in every week, as we allow them to. It's really been a great system.''
Flowers has been impressed as well.
''I hope we can take this concept and develop it in other agencies in the Foodbank area,'' he said. ''The clients are very, very respectful of what's being offered and the fact that they have a choice.''
That two agencies in Tuscarawas County, one of the eight counties the Foodbank serves, had astronomical gains in the last year hit Flowers and his crew hard.
Journey's End had received 652,199 pounds of food from Jan. 1 through Oct. 28 this year. It had gotten 243,000 pounds over the same period in 2008.
''Journey's End could go over a million pounds in a year very soon,'' Flowers said. ''That's incredible. That's how desperate it has become in that area.''
Even more stunning was the demand created at the relatively new Greater Dover-New Philadelphia Food Pantry.
It had a staggering growth from 52,017 pounds over the first 10 months of 2008 to 586,621 over the same period this year.
Those are now the top two agencies on the Foodbank's list for food distribution.
Gore has been forced to become a more economical shopper.
''The demand for food has increased dramatically, but the donations from the 15 churches in the area that support us is about the same,'' she said. ''Something had to give.
''We had to drop dramatically what we pay for the food to make it balance.''
Gore said she focuses on as much free food as she can get from the Foodbank.
''Potatoes are a big item,'' she said. Her agency has received 12,000 free bags so far this year.
Her efforts at cost control have allowed the agency to spend only about $36,000 this year for nearly 600,000 pounds of food.
Gore said Journey's End, which is in its 12th year of service, also became more efficient by acquiring a truck that can handle 10,000 pounds of food each trip and a 50-year-old forklift ''that had been sitting in field down here.''
''We have to do whatever we can to make it work,'' Gore said. ''We are an incredibly impoverished area down here.
''There is a lot of misconception about what it's like in rural areas like Newcomerstown. It's tough.''
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Barberton, Oh
Posted 02:56 PM, 11/19/2009
My old man's father works for Journey's End. What a wonderful place.
Orrville, Oh
Posted 05:19 PM, 11/19/2009
Denying Human Beings opportunity to produce amount they use for life for wages or independent business profit. Enabling them to pay for that amount with money derived from wages or independent business profit. Creates impoverished, starving Human Beings.
Representatives of this Representative Republic supporting Hillarys, Chinese, Foreign and Domestic Investors and Stockholders (money marketers) marketing more stock dividends (money) quarterly in the wholesale and retail price of food and fiber; nonunion parasites willing to work for fewer wages than they can afford life produce in the USA and slaves produce in foreign countries.
This defiance of realities demands Makes food and fiber UNAFFORDABLE; Makes free, fair, and affordable commerce IMPOSSIBLE; Makes funding schools, infrastructure, and etc. IMPOSSIBLE; Makes balancing every budget IMPOSSIBLE; Makes union workers, consumers, taxpayers, and America’s grandchildren’s children LIFE UNAFFORDABLE; and created the $40 trillion social security and the $9.3 trillion national debt. America’s grandchildren’s children are responsible to pay interest with this debt until they are 18 years old. Then pay the debt with the $7.30 per hour government mandated labor wage.
There is no reason to believe America’s grandchildren’s children that go to bed hungry can afford life; and pay this debt; with the $7.30 per hour; government mandated labor wage; in a hundred million years; with money derived from wages or independent business profit!
Akron, OH
Posted 05:22 PM, 11/19/2009
Mr Lilley, I would like to hear a description of the situation of one of these rural families that is in need.. How do they ordinarily make their living? I would say that that should be an integral part of this story.
Otherwise, thank heaven for Journey's End.
rmk/akron
Canal Fulton, Oh
Posted 06:17 PM, 11/19/2009
Is this the "change" that we were told was needed?
Posted 06:18 AM, 11/20/2009
''There was a lot waste, because each client received food that they liked and didn't like,'' she said. ''They just threw away the things they didn't like. That was a waste. In the situation we are in, we can't afford to be wasteful.''
I have a hard time accepting the fact that those that are in need and are given free food throw some of the food away. Surely these people know someone ... Family members, friends or neighbors who would be more than happy to take the "didn't like" items and use them to feed their families!
Thankfully they have implemented a different program and each person or family can pick out the items that they will actually use!
Posted 06:21 AM, 11/20/2009
@peebs02 ~ The only "change" I have seen in 2009 is the lack of "change" in my wallet ...
