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Editorial: Food bank needs more for lean summer months

05:51 PM CDT on Friday, May 21, 2010

Stephanie Noland still shudders as she describes what hunger looks like at McWhorter Elementary School in Mesquite.

Hunger looks like a third-grader scooping up food scraps off the floor of the lunchroom. It looks like children who eat the paper wrappers off their crayons. And it looks like panic when a student fears he's missed out on the weekly delivery of backpacks filled with food for the weekend.

Noland, a Title 1 instructional specialist, doesn't know how some of her students would get by between Friday's free lunch at McWhorter and Monday's school breakfast if not for the backpacks that are sent home each week.

The North Texas Food Bank makes those deliveries possible. The food bank aims to distribute 47 million meals this year. But the organization that helps so many who are struggling suddenly is struggling itself.

For the first time since its 1982 creation, the food bank is facing a financial shortfall. President and CEO Jan Pruitt expects to end this fiscal year next month having raised $250,000 less than budgeted. Because each of those dollars can be converted into four meals, falling short could have devastating consequences.

The food bank serves as the distribution hub for nearly 1,200 feeding locations. As contributions to this important organization have fallen off, the number of clients seeking help from these programs has jumped – meaning that more people are going home with less food.

Here, in the state with the highest percentage of families classified as "food insecure," the North Texas Food Bank provides an essential safety net. In Dallas County, every third child lives in poverty. And a growing number of other families are among the working poor who too often choose between buying food and paying bills.

As officials brace for what they call the hungriest months of the year – when students no longer can rely on meals at school – the food bank needs North Texas' help.

The organization needs major gifts. It could use modest individual contributions. The food bank is seeking assistance from food companies and restaurants. And some more volunteers certainly couldn't hurt.

Of course, at a time when many worthy organizations are in need and plenty of businesses and families have little to spare, it's easy to find reasons to say, "Maybe next year."

But, as Noland notes, spending some time at McWhorter would convince most folks to act now. For too many of her students, the summer doesn't conjure visions of swimming pools or lazy, hazy days ahead.

These kids worry that this could be a long and hungry season.

And that's heartbreaking.