Local food bank pinched by supply chain problems, seeks donations to cover shortfall
Supply chain issues are beginning to cut into the ability of the Tarrant County Area Food Bank to serve individuals and families who depend on it, according to a food bank official.
The food bank normally relies on what grocery store companies pass on to fill its inventory, said Stephen Raeside, food bank chief development and external affairs officer. But the stores are hanging on to their goods longer as a hedge on delivery concerns. This has pinched the food bank’s capacity to keep up with the demand on its services.
“Due to supply chain issues, there’s very little surplus in the system right now,” Raeside said.
The food bank is purchasing food from wholesale markets to make up the shortage, he said. They budgeted $1.4 million for food purchases, and have already spent $4.9 million.
“That is $3.5 million that we didn’t budget for,” Raeside said. “That money has come out of reserves and so we’re making an appeal to the public to help us make that up.”
Money donations are more useful
Raeside said the food pantry also needs volunteers to distribute food and help with mobile food pantry events. People who want to donate funds or volunteer can do so through the TAFB website.
Even though people sometimes want to donate cans of food to the pantry, Raeside said financial donations are a lot more useful. Cans of food only account for 1% of their distribution.
“It costs us a lot to store and process those cans,” Raeside said. “We do a lot more with cash donation. And in fact, for each dollar of revenue we convert to five meals.”
According to Raeside, the food pantry distributed 1 million meals per week throughout the pandemic. The numbers started to decline, but then rose to the current level of 900,00 per week.
“There’s a lot of need out there, unfortunately,” Raeside said.
Inflation is affecting food bank operations as well.
“We’re paying twice as much in diesel and electricity right now and all those nuts and bolts of operating a food bank,” Raeside said. “It’s just far more expensive than it used to be.”
There are about 400 mobile pantry events every month, according to Raeside. Money goes into paying for fuel to run them and staff to help. The shortages could mean cutting back on the mobile distribution centers.
Raeside said about half of their food distribution goes to 400 food pantries and half goes to mobile distribution centers.
In addition to food, the food bank provides basic toiletries like toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo — which are also in short supply.
