LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

The last 2 years have been more challenging than ever, to say the least. More than 1,000 NEW households have utilized the food bank program. Most of these families have never asked for help with food.

They’ve used the program so they could take care of other monthly living expenses. You can’t pay half your rent or mortgage, medical premiums or car insurance. When you’ve lost your job or had your work hours reduced, you spend your time “Robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Food expenses are one of the few variables you can pull your limited cash from to cover other things. I’ve been there, I’ve done that. So when I visit with people coming through our doors, and they make comments such as, “I’ve always given to this program. My kids have grabbed food from our cupboards to take to school for food drives. Now, here I am, asking for help.” It’s both humbling and disheartening for people.

There are other groups of people having a rough time too; seniors and disabled folks living on fixed incomes and finding that they just can’t pay all the bills, especially during the winter. The food bank provides food to offset their fixed budget. To receive $50-100 worth of food monthly means so much to seniors and the disabled. Their average monthly fixed income is $300-700 per month. Can you even imagine trying to live on this amount?

You may be thinking, “I don’t know anyone who uses the food bank.” If you think about it....would you want to tell others you’re struggling and need help feeding your family? Pride and dignity are alive and well in Klamath and Lake Counties. However, there is a point where you have to make a decision about keeping your family healthy and intact during your tough time.

Who utilizes the food bank and the agencies we serve:

• Seniors
• The disabled
• Cancer treatment patients
• Hospice patients
  Those who have lost their job or had their work hours reduced
• Single parents
• Parents with special needs kids
• Those who have suffered from an injury
• Veterans
• The homeless
• People who need a little help, for a little while, and don’t want to ask for government help

I’m often asked, “How can the food bank do so much with $1, $10 or $100 donation?” The answer…LOW OVERHEAD. Nearly $.94 of every dollar goes towards the program itself. The other 6% covers administration and fundraising expenses. For many years the food bank staff and board have worked very hard to secure private grants to purchase our 12,000 square feet of total storage space, the equipment we use, our delivery vehicles that are used to collect, store and distribute of over a million pounds of donated food annually. Without owning all of these things outright, our expenses would run between $5,000 and $8,000 each and every month. Without the quality, caring food bank staff and the 650 awesome volunteers who donate more than 16,000 hours annually, food couldn’t be distributed to those in need within our 18,000 square mile service area.

We’ve kept up with the demand because of YOU! In the last 14 years I’ve been with the food bank, your faith and trust have allowed us to weather any storm that’s come our way.

July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010, your support provided food assistance to feed 5,600 households and provide food to 24 other programs that prepared meals for 2,000 children, the disabled and the homeless.

As I said in the beginning of this letter, we’re in very challenging times. Please, please continue to support us so we can keep up with the level of service we provide. Visit our website (klamathfoodbank.org) to donate or to see all of the agencies that benefit because of what you do. Call them and find out what the food bank means to their programs. And always, always remember….When you support the food bank, you support 70 other vital non-profit programs and projects in Klamath and Lake Counties. Without you, we can do nothing.

Ways to help:

• Monetary donations
• Food donations
• Hold a food drive at your work, school, birthday, anniversary or reunion parties, or through your service organization
• Donate your garden produce or fruit from your trees
• Volunteer your time at the food bank or a food pantry
• Help your neighbor, friend or relative with yardwork, housework, or handiwork.

It all adds up to taking care of our own. And that’s what we do in small town America. This is what has made America great and why we’ve prospered for 234 years.

God Bless you.

Niki Sampson,
Executive Director
Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank