Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Up to $1 million.
That's what's being offered by a Rhode Island foundation in the form of grants to food banks nationwide. And officials at the North Central Indiana Food Bank are hoping to get a piece of the pie.
The NCIFB serves 117 charities in Elkhart, Fulton, Kosciusko, Marshall and St. Joseph counties. Thirty-eight of those are located in Kosciusko County, including Combined Community Services in Warsaw; Helping Hands in Mentone; Quaker Haven Camp in Syracuse; Kosciusko County Council on Aging; and several churches, shelters, treatment programs and other nonprofit organizations.
Donations from individuals and businesses of at least $25 will be matched through the "Skip A Meal ... Feed A Neighbor" fund drive. All funds raised in Kosciusko County will be returned here in the form of food. To qualify, all checks must be dated between Feb. 4 and Feb. 14. Checks should be made payable to North Central Indiana Food Bank, Skip A Meal, 216 W. Ewing Ave., South Bend, IN 46613-2149.
The grant is being sponsored by the Feinstein Foundation of Cranston, R.I., and is in its second year. Last year, more than $1.3 million was raised nationwide during a seven-day period, with the foundation matching $1 million.
Alan Shawn Feinstein is founder of the Hunger Program at Brown University and the International Famine Center at Tufts University. He also is founder of the Youth Hunger Brigade, a program that develops awareness of the hunger problem in young people and recommends activities to reduce it. He is a nationally known crusader against hunger, according to a press release.
Daniel Bauer of Syracuse, who was recently named chairman of the board of NCIFB and has been a member since 1995, said that the organization distributed about two million pounds of food last year. All foods are measured by weight because it is the easiest way to track it, Bauer said.
The NCIFB is a certified member of the Second Harvest National Food Bank and was founded in 1994. About 300,000 pounds of food were distributed in its first year, with the amounts steadily increasing since that time. The food bank expects a 25 percent increase in demand for food this year.
Last year, the food bank saved the agencies it serves $1.4 million. The average truckload of food weighs about 40,000 pounds and has a retail value of $84,000 (wholesale, $50,000). Transportation costs for such a load average $250.
Bauer said the total of donations received in Kosciusko County will be equally divided among the 38 agencies served.
