BOOTHEEL FOOD BANK HELPS FEED THE HUNGRY

Looking at a warehouse filled with towering stacks of food boxes, Dorene Johnson is reminded of the daily miracles taking place at the Bootheel Food Bank in Sikeston.

"It's the best thing since the loaves and fishes," said Johnson, executive director of the food bank that distributes grocery products to food pantries and nutrition programs feeding the needy in 16 Southeast Missouri counties.

The Bible tells the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes with one basket of fish and bread. The Bootheel Food Bank last year delivered 350 million pounds of food to about 180 non-profit agencies. This is done with one delivery truck, one driver and eight full-time workers.

An average of 20,000 individuals per month receive food from the agencies served by the food bank, Johnson said.

"We feed a lot of people," she said.

Much of the food distributed to those agencies might have ended up in a dumpster if it weren't for Bootheel Food Bank and other members of America's Second Harvest. Second Harvest is a nationwide network of agencies that distribute food donated by growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers.

The products donated are often overstocked items, have mistakes in the labeling or are close to a "sell by" date.

"There's nothing wrong with the food," Johnson said. And until Second Harvest began collecting and distributing it, much of it was thrown away, she said.

"Second Harvest's motto is Bridging the gap between hunger and waste,'" Johnson said.

Bootheel Food Bank also distributes USDA commodities, items like vegetables, fruit, meat and pasta the federal government provides to be used in emergency food and nutrition assistance programs.

The USDA commodities are free to qualified agencies. The Second Harvest food is delivered to participating agencies for a shared maintenance fee of 14 cents per pound, Johnson said.

"We pay 5 cents per pound, then there are the costs of trucking, the warehouse and operating expenses," Johnson said.

In addition to the shared maintenance fee, the Bootheel Food Bank receives some money from grants. But it also counts on donations to keep it operating. Johnson said they need about $15,000 in donations each month to keep going.

Salvation Army Maj. Robert Gauthier said his Cape Girardeau mission gets both USDA commodities and Second Harvest food from the Bootheel Food Bank.

"It's more economical to get food from the food bank than to buy it off the shelves," Gauthier said.

In the warehouse in Sikeston, Johnson pointed out a box filled with bags of cereal. An agency would pay $1.26 for the box, which contains 10 bags. That price is less than a single bag of the cereal from store shelves.

And with the increase in people seeking help from Salvation Army, Gauthier said he has to stretch his resources as much as possible.

In 1998 the Cape Girardeau Salvation Army filled 6,694 requests for food. In 1999, that figure went up to 9,758. That's about a 45 percent increase, he said.

There is paperwork and guidelines agencies must use to get food from Bootheel Food Bank. Agencies that want to use the food bank sign a contract, get training in handling and distributing the food and make sure recipients meet income and residence guidelines.

Agencies that use the food bank in this area include the Salvation Army, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Red Star Baptist, Jackson Senior Center, Bethesda Fellowship and, in Scott City, New Life Congregational Methodist Church and New Life Gospel Center.

Some food pantries choose not to uses Bootheel Food Bank because of the paperwork. Gil Degenhardt, a board member and volunteer at the FISH food pantry, said it would be difficult for FISH's all-volunteer staff to keep up with the paperwork required to participant in the food bank.

Still he said, the food bank does fill an important need in helping feed low-income families.

Bootheel Food Bank has been filling that need since 1985 when the Sikeston Rescue Mission decided to sponsor a Second Harvest food bank. Johnson, who had had been working at the Lighthouse Mission food pantry in Poplar Bluff, was asked to be its director.

"It's hard work," she said. "But I am inspired to do it because of the end result -- feeding the needy."

Johnson said there are problems -- not enough food, not enough money and more requests for food than they can handle.

"But all in all it's a satisfying job," she said.