Go Texan

GO TEXAN is a program sponsored by the Texas Department of Agriculture. The program is designed to encourage and champion restaurants in Texas who use Texas grown meats, produce and other ingredients. So why is this important? Why am I writing about it and why is the Texas Department of Agriculture promoting it? There are many advantages to eating locally.

On average, your food travels 1500 miles from where it was grown to your table. 1500 miles! That is a long way. In the process, there is a substantial amount of economic and environmental loss. In light of the current recession people are looking to cut back in various aspects of their lives. One way individuals typically do this is by buying less fresh produce because it is so costly. (However, it is just as costly on their health to not buy fresh fruits and vegetables.) Part of that cost is the fuel used to get it to your local grocer. Buying locally grown produce not only supports the local farming community but is cheaper for you! Seems like another win-win to me!

Secondly, it only does it saves you financially but you get a fresher product. Who doesn't want that? Buying locally also ensures that you are eating produce that is in season, again making it more fresh. In short, there is really no negative side to purchasing locally grown produce and while you are at it -- eating at restaurants that also make a point of buying their ingredients locally.

For a list of participating Lubbock restaurants, click here.

Simple Goodness

A few posts ago I wrote about fresh produce and the SPFB's farm and apple orchard. Yesterday, I blogged about the GRUB program at the farm and the integral role they play in having fresh produce for our clients. Well, when I went to the farm last week, I didn't leave empty handed. Roy, our farmer, sent me home with fresh squash, cucumber, tomatoes and okra. YUM!

I went out of town this weekend so last night was the first opportunity I had to cook with the fresh vegetables. My favorite vegetable is okra, so I sliced up about half the okra and boiled it. I didn't do anything fancy, no breading, no oil, just a little salt. It was delicious!!! If I'm honest I will admit that I usually use frozen okra but I'm not sure I can go back now. There is just something so "fresh" about cooking with fresh produce. You don't need all the fancy spices or frying -- it is good just the way nature intended.

Tonight I'm planning to make a squash casserole with my fresh produce, grown right here in West Texas! It is my grandmother's recipe and it too uses few ingredients. I love it because the squash flavor is not overpowered by a bunch of additional ingredients. Just add some milk and a little water and voila! you have a squash casserole that is outstanding! In fact, as a little girl I could not stand squash (crazy, I love it now) and the only way I would eat it was this casserole recipe. I can't wait to try it with my squash from the SPFB's farm!!

G.R.U.B.

GRUB stands for Growing Recruits for Urban Business. It just might be one of my favorite programs the SPFB runs (although, I say that about almost all of them)! It is one of those programs that not only has a great concept but works in reality as well.

Each year a group of teenagers work at the farm. They not only learn lessons about horticulture but they learn life lessons. They learn to work together, they see a project from beginning to end and they learn to live in community with one another. From a business perspective they learn how to market and sell their products. In return, the SPFB has fresh produce! What a great partnership for everyone.

Last week, I was able to go to the farm and see it all firsthand. WOW! What a great time. I happened to be there at the end of their workday. This particular day the youth were saying goodbye to two of their fellow workers whose time at the farm had ended. One of the interns, who has been working at the farm for a few years, put a video together for them. The video does a great job of showcasing the work that is accomplished and the relationships that are formed through the GRUB program.

A big thanks to the donors, who make it financially possible and to Jenifer, who makes it run daily!

DIsaster Relief

As a food bank, our objective is to feed people in their time of need and to give them hope in their time of despair. This includes times of natural disaster. Now is the time to prepare for possible disasters, when they have yet to occur. If organizations are found scrambling after the fact, distribution is often less efficient, more time consuming and chaotic. While we may not be in danger of being in the eye of a hurricane, we all know the devastating effects tornadoes can have on our corner of the world.

Not only do we want to be prepared for a local disaster, we want to be prepared to lend a hand in a national disaster as well. Food banks generally play a large role in disaster relief and the SPFB is no exception! Your consistent donations to the SPFB not only help us feed those who are hungry now but they enable us to be prepared for the unexpected, such a local or national disaster.

Lubbock Tornado (May 1970)

Working Hungry

It's a common misconception, that people who are food insecure and need food vouchers don't work. It might even ease our conscious just a little to think, "Well, I work hard for my food". Fact is, a recent survey reported 37% of adults who requested emergency food service were employed. Yes, you read that correctly - over one third of the people requesting assistance are working. They simply don't make a "living wage". What is the difference between a "living wage" and "minimum wage"? A living wage means an individual is working forty hours a week and making enough money to afford quality housing, food, utilities and transportation.

The most vulnerable population to be labeled as "working poor" are young families with children under the age of 18. It is the mother with twin boys, who are growing and eating faster than she can work and put more food on the table. It is the widow with young children, dealing with grief, the children's grief, and the stress of making ends meet. It might the couple who each have a part time job but still have to choose between food and medical attention for their children. Hunger has many faces and chances are we interact with those faces each week and have no idea. It is not always the unemployed, although unemployment is a major factor in food insecurity. Remember, on the South Plains, 1 in 5 individuals suffers from food insecurity.

Mobile Pantries

While some of the SPFB's clients are able to come to the SPFB and get their food boxes, there are others who are not able to get to the SPFB. They may not have transportation or they may not be able to be there during business hours. In West Texas, there are a lot of clients who live in rural areas and if someone is food insecure, they are most likely not going to be able to afford to drive to Lubbock for food. The solution: MOBILE PANTRIES!!

What exactly is a mobile pantry? Just as the name implies, it is a traveling food pantry. The SPFB is able to drive trucks, full of food boxes, to the rural areas of the South Plains and hand them out. As the population in rural West Texas ages, this service is increasingly important. The elderly are a vulnerable population to begin with and with the baby boomers reaching retirement and fixed incomes, mobile pantries are only going to become more imperitive for food banks across the country. Your food and monetary donations help make it possible for the SPFB to reach the rural population on the South Plains!

Fresh Food

We all know we are supposed to eat healthy. We know we need to eat our vegetables and that "an apple a day, keeps the doctor away". For some reason, it is often hard to eat healthy. Why is that? I think part of it is because we live in a world where we want (and often get) instant gratification. We want food and we want it now! The quickest things to grab are often not the healthiest. At the food banks, it is hard to keep fresh produce around. There are always canned and frozen fruits and vegetables that will keep but I always wonder just what is in there that allows them to keep for so long. Just a thought. The SPFB has come up with a few ideas that help get fresh produce into the food boxes we hand out.

For those of you who don't know, the SPFB has a farm where they grow various kinds of fruit and vegetables and an apple orchard. The apple orchard was originally funded in 1994 and by 1997 around 25,000 pounds of fresh apples were being distributed through the food bank to their clients. The SPFB also has a program called "Produce for the Plains"; produce, which would otherwise goes to waste, is donated by local wholesalers to the SPFB for weekly distribution at three City of Lubbock Community Centers.

Why is getting fresh produce distributed even important? There are many reasons but I won't bore you with all of them (not today anyways). I do want to briefly mention an article I read yesterday titled, "The Healthiest Foods On Earth". The author wrote about various societies that have been known for healthy lifestyles and how each diet differed except for one thing, "all these healthy diets have in common the fact that they are absent foods with bar codes". They can be high in fat, low in fat, high in carbohydrates, low in carbohydrates, high in protein, low in protein -- they simply are full of foods that are free from bar codes and full of natural vitamins and antioxidants. It seems so simple. Yet, it is so hard sometimes. So I applaud the the SPFB in their constant (and successful) efforts to not only feed the hungry, but to feed them well.

Just One Is All It Takes

As I was searching about teens and hunger today I came across a website called "Teens Fighting Hunger". I was intrigued. This nonprofit organization was started by a 16 year old in 2007 and continues to raise money to eradicate hunger in children today. It all started with a paper the founder wrote for school, where she learned that 12.4 million children go hungry each month in the United States. She decided to do something about it. She and her fellow volunteers make jewelry to sell at farmers markets all across Oregon. All the proceeds go to help end hunger in the United States. I've included a link to a video of Teens Fighting Hunger presenting a check to the Oregon Food Bank in the amount of $10,000.

Wow. I know sometimes it seems overwhelming because there are so many needs to be met throughout our community, the United States and the world. Where does one even begin? What can I do, I'm only one person. I can't make that big of a difference. I am sure we have all had these thoughts, we are human after all. Whenever I get overwhelmed with what I can and cannot do, I remember the following quote and I have hope. Hope, that I just might be able to make a difference in my corner of the world.

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale

So many times we think about we cannot do but the truth is we may never know the impact of helping just one person. That person may one day pay it forward to someone and that person just might turn around and help someone else and on and on it goes. In 2000, there was a movie based on this principle of "paying it forward". According to the movie, if one person does one good deed for someone and that person pays it forward to three people and each of those three individuals paid it forward to three more people, by the end of two weeks 4,782,969 individuals will have been on the receiving end of a helping hand. Who says one person can't a difference? Not me.

Downtown Art Market

In May 2009 Lubbock's Downtown Art Market (DAM) opened and has steadily gained momentum each month. I have to admit I didn't know what the DAM was until I started at the SPFB and learned about the GRUB farm's booth. So what is the DAM?

It is a place for local talent, artists and growers to showcase their homemade or homegrown products! DAM is located in Tornado Alley, right in the heart of downtown Lubbock. There are many great talents in West Texas and this monthly event is a great way to showcase just what West Texans can do and grow!

Not only is the DAM a good place for local artists, it is also a great place for the teenagers working at the GRUB farm to exhibit their hard work. Part of the GRUB progam is designed to teach adolescents life and job skills. The DAM provides a unique opportunity for them to learn business skills they might not otherwise be able to learn. For most of the teens who are a part of GRUB, this program is their only opportunity to gain these valuable skills. It can be life changing for them to be a part of this program. Thank you to Jenifer, the staff at the GRUB farm and the hard-working teens!

Thank You

I know I haven't posted a blog in a few dsys -- this is because I was out at the Can-Can Food Drive, the SPFB's annual summer food drive. There are so many inspiring stories that I almost don't know where to start. I want to share the entire week with everyone.

One of the overarching themes last week was how amazing it was to see the Lubbock community reach out and help re-stock the shelves of the SPFB. Lubbock has always been known as a giving community but to see it first-hand was humbling. It's one thing to see high rates of giving in times of prosperity but in a recession that has no end in sight, that says something about the character of a community. Thank you Lubbock. Thank you for helping us satisfy one of the most basic of human needs, the need for nourishment. Thank you for helping to instill hope in those who need a helping hand. Thank you for proving that it is not all bad news in the world today, that there are people willing to help their neighbors.

Food Drives

Have you ever donated food to a food drive for a food bank? More specifically have you ever donated food to a South Plains Food Bank food drive? I have. I remember when my daughters were in school and they would come home asking to take cans to school for the food bank so they could get out of doing homework or could earn an extra point on a test. I complied without questioning why the food bank needed the food or to whom it was going. I opened my pantry and pulled out the "mistakes" I had purchased at the grocery store. That can of cream-style corn when I meant to pick up whole-kernel. The canned baby shrimp I thought I would use in a salad, but didn't. The extra can of pork-n-beans I didn't use when I made baked beans. I never gave any thought to what cans I pulled out of the pantry to send to school for the food bank.

Now I work for the food bank and I see first hand the need for good nutritious food. The need for high protein, whole grain, nutritious food; food just like I would want to serve to my family. Not the dented cans or the cans missing their labels.

Today David Weaver, the Executive Director of the South Plains Food Bank, related a story to me that made me cry (okay - if you know me, you know this doesn't take much, but this is a very touching story). He was at the food drive site this afternoon when a young, twenty-something, man showed up. The young man asked about the pre-made sacks of groceries available to donate to the food bank for $5. He told David that when he was a child they received food assistance from the food bank and he got tired of the "same old food bank food" and would it be okay if he purchased items of his choosing. He returned a short while later with over $100 worth of food to donate to the food bank. I wish I could have taken a peek into his grocery bags. I bet there wasn't one single can of cream-style corn!

I'm not knocking cream-style corn. But I am in awe of this young man who is "paying it forward." If you would like to donate to the South Plains Food Bank's summer food drive you can donate at the food drive site at the United Supermarket at 82nd Street and Frankford Ave. or you can donate online at www.spfb.org

I wish I could be a fly on the wall when our families-in-need receive the food items donated by our imaginative donor today.

Mascera, Mudflap (KLLL), a tutu and the Can-Can Food Drive

Today as I was running a few errands before work I tuned in to KLLL's morning show. They have kicked off the Annual Can Can Food Drive for us in a huge way! We don't officially get out there until 11am with all the sponsors and volunteers but Jeff, Kelli and Mudflap were already promoting the food drive and getting people in to buy $5 bags of food to help re-stock the SPFB!

I started listening at 8am and their goal was to sell 20, $5 bags in an hour. First, let me explain about the bags of food. Every bag is filled with food, healthy food, that will go into the food boxes the SPFB hands out. United is selling them for $5 (they worth more than that) and the SPFB is able to feed one more family on the South Plains. Mudflap (from KLLL's morning show) was on site to sell those bags! They are at the register of the United on 82nd and Frankford. Okay, back to the goal. With 15 minutes left, they had already sold 39 bags so they increased their goal to 100 bags!! From 20 to 100 -- WOW!! There were some people who simply stopped by and handed their money to Mudflap and he then went and bought the bags. It's that easy!!!

I have to say that I'm glad I wasn't wearing mascera this morning -- ladies, you know what I mean. Any water in the eyes and that stuff just runs like mad down your face. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by the generosity of our fellow Lubbockites, but I was. I couldn't help but think, this community really does care. Maybe I'm an idealist or maybe people just really want to see Mudflap in a tutu (that's right, if our goal for the day is reached, Mudflap will wear a tutu tomorrow). However, I choose to believe that even in this time of economic hardship that is hitting us all, people still want to afford their friends and neighbors the right to eat. I think of the faces of the children that will be fed thanks to this food drive and I can't help but tear up a little.

Our goal for the week is 1000 bags ... so let's keep it going strong Lubbock!

Can Can Food Drive: Tuesday - Friday (THIS WEEK)

Join us at United on 82nd and Frankford for the 8th Annual Can Can Food Drive, the SPFB's summer food drive. The Food Bank truck, along with volunteers from Covenant and the Food Bank will be on-hand daily from 11:00 am until 6:30 pm to accept donations of food and money. We are partnering with The Texas Peanut Producers Board, Keva Juice, and United Supermarkets, KLLL, KLBK, Bodyworks and Latino Lubbock Newsletter to provide food to feed the hungry in West Texas.

As the heat rises on the South Plains, so does the number of clients served by the SPFB. During the summer months there is an increased demand for food boxes because children are at home, not eating breakfast and lunch at school. According to LISD, 65% of the 28,000 students enrolled this past year were eligible for the reduced lunch program - 17,520 children. On average, 500 boxes are distributed to needy families every week through the SPFB. Our warehouse shelves are empty by the end of June as the food donated during previous food drives depletes.

Not only are we going to collect food but we are going to have fun doing it! Keva Juice will provide some relief from heat and Bodyworks will have their climbing wall on-site for those who dare to climb up! Every child that climbs to the top will have a jar of peanut butter donated to the SPFB, in their name, by the The Texas Peanut Producers Board. So come out, have fun, and help those in need! For more information visit our website.

Goal: To fill a truck each day. The food collected through this drive is used in food boxes which are given out daily to families in need.

Freedom from Hunger (and Happy 4th of July!)

The word freedom has many definitions. This weekend we, as Americans, will celebrate our freedom as a country. However, there are millions of individuals across our nations that are not free from food insecurity. They have many freedoms but the freedom from hunger is not they currently know.

As discussed in previous posts, hunger affects the young and old, male and female, every race and ethnicity. Food insecurity can affect anyone and everyone. As citizens of one of the greatest nations on earth we should be able to provide the very basic of needs to our neighbors, food. While providing food may not solve all the problems in an individuals life, it is our sincere desire that it also provides hope. Hope that tomorrow will be the day they get that job that allows them the freedom to go to the grocery store and pay utility bills. Hope that their children will get a nutricious meal that night. Hope that they are not alone.

Please help us give Americans another holiday to celebrate -- Freedom from Hunger