COVID Stinks. I had told Diana that my challenge to myself was to write this entire column without using the word COVID. However, when I sat down at the keyboard, I could not get the Corona Virus and its impact on the world out of my mind. My mind continues to think of my friend Steve who passed away last week from complications of the disease, and another friend who is currently on a respirator fighting for her life. As I think about these two instances in my small life, and magnify them by the world wide cases of the illness, the impact is almost overwhelming to me. Overwhelming also is the sense that the spread is not slowing down. Each day the news reports record numbers of infected, record number of hospitalizations and record number of deaths. What the news doesn’t report on is the growing number of our friends and neighbors who become food insecure because of the economic impact of this disease. You all have been so generous to support the Food Bank for this past year. For that, I thank you. Your additional donations have put us in a position to provide the food necessary for those impacted to survive. Unfortunately this battle is far from over. So I ask you to please consider an additional or first time gift to the Food Bank this year. It will allow us to continue to purchase food for those in need.

Our annual Jewels of Giving Gala was supposed to be Friday, November 13. Not only is this our largest fundraising event of the year, but it is a chance to review the progress we have made in fighting food insecurity in Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties. It would have been a challenge to do that this year. You see it’s like the old saying “take one step forward and two steps back.” In February there were an estimated 65,000 food insecure persons in our service area. In May, we heard that number could be as high as 100,000 so if you just look at the numbers, all our efforts were in vain. But as is often the case, numbers don’t tell the whole story. By the end of September, we had served more people and distributed more food than we did the entire year of 2019. Our own direct distribution arm, Mobile Services had stops in towns where we had never been before. People lined up for hours to receive nourishing food and more importantly hope. Yes, we had much to celebrate had the event taken place.

For me, one of the highlights of the Jewels of Giving Gala is my announcement of the Northwest Arkansas Hunger Hero award. For those of you who have never attended one of our events, this award is presented by me, selected by a committee of me, using a criteria written by me, to a person who embodies the spirit of our mission. This year, it gave me great pride, via zoom, to present the award to the staff of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. Collectively they have done miraculous work this year. Without regard for their personal safety, they have shown up, masked up and worked extra hours every day to make sure food got in and out of the warehouse for those clients in need. They have personally delivered food to houses of those who could not leave their homes because of quarantine. They have worked tirelessly to fundraise the financial support to meet the seemingly impossible need. To me there was no question who this year’s hunger hero should be, and since I get to make the decision, please join me in congratulating the staff of the Food Bank for this honor.

In closing, I want to remind you all of what I wrote last month…..That my Christmas list this year was for my family to donate to the Food Bank, a food pantry or another charity of choice. Well, two friends from Southeast Kansas whom I had not seen in many years took that message to heart. Bob, who just retired, had someone anonymously drop off some cash with a note in his mailbox. He sent the money to us. Theresa, Diana’s high school classmate, heard of my desire and pledged to donate to charities instead of buying gifts this year. These are just two examples of selfless people doing small things to help those less fortunate. My continued hope and prayer is that God continues to give all of us the health, strength and wisdom to make a difference in people’s lives.

Please have a blessed Christmas and remember, Because of you, someone will eat today.

- Kent

For the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, this community is more than a place to sell newspapers. That’s why they’ve partnered with The Northwest Arkansas Food Bank to help make sure no one in our community goes hungry this holiday season.

Founded in 2000, the paper is the regional affiliate of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette—the oldest continuously-published newspaper west of the Mississippi River—which was established in 1819.

The paper started a program called the Community Christmas Card in 1977 as a way of giving back to the community. In exchange for donations for local families in need, readers would get a name, their own or another’s, in the paper on Christmas Day on a full-color, full-page Christmas card.

This year, the decision was made to focus donations on a problem widespread in our community: food insecurity.

“We had been waiting and talking about a new life for the Community Christmas Card,” said Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Advertising Operations Manager Sandy Robinson, “something a little different than what we had done in the past.”

With so much need in the community as a whole because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper decided to give all proceeds to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

“NWA Food Bank was right on target for all they do and what they provide for the community,” Sandy said. “This year, we wanted to make sure that families are fed.”

This year, for every three dollars donated, the donor submits a name to the paper. Donors can submit their own names, other people’s names, make a donation “in honor of” or “in memory of” someone, or any other name they choose.

On Christmas Day, a full-page, full-color Community Christmas Card will appear in the print and replica versions of the paper with all of the names listed. There is no limit to the number of names that can be submitted with a donation, one for every three dollars donated.

“I might get $100 from someone, and they can give me 30 names,” Sandy explained.

Tom Stallbaumer, Director of Administration at the Food Bank, is working hand-in-hand with the paper on the Community Christmas Card project this year. The paper will be collecting the donations and giving them to the Food Bank, who will coordinate and distribute food to the hungry in our community.

“And 100% of donations will go directly to the Food Bank,” Sandy noted, “there’s not a penny taken out of it.”

Donations will be accepted through 12/31/20; however, in order to have names listed on the Christmas Day Community Christmas Card, your donation and name submission must be received no later than 5 p.m. Friday 12/18/20. You may also choose to donate anonymously.

This year, Sandy thinks the paper will see more online donations than in years past, because the paper’s Fayetteville office is closed due to the pandemic. In previous years, donors could drop off donations at the office if they wished. Without that option this year, donations have to be made in other ways.

There will be a link for online donations at www.nwaonline.co m, or donations can be mailed to Sandy at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette office, where she will pick them up two to three times per week:

Sandy Robinson - Community Christmas Card

C/O Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

P.O. Box 1607

Fayetteville, AR 72702

Donations can also be made to the Food Bank directly, but donors will only get their name(s) on the Community Christmas Card if they make donations through the newspaper.

“We are really excited to be partnering with the Food Bank this year,” Sandy said, “there’s never been a more important time for our generous community to come together to help each other.”

For questions about the project or help with donations, contact Sandy Robinson (479)466-8773 or srobinson@nwaonline.com.

Chrys Horsman is our Volunteer of the Month!

During the month of November, we had a total of 187 volunteers serve 613 hours with us. These volunteers make it possible for us to serve those who are food insecure by helping pack food boxes for distribution, working at our mobile pantries, and other important duties that help us tremendously.

If you are interested in volunteering, please visit our website www.nwafoodbank.org to find a day and time that is open that will work for you. Please be aware that we are following strict Covid guidelines to help keep all of our employees and volunteers safe during this time.

Thank you Chrys for going above and beyond in volunteering with us. We appreciate you!

COVID-19 has affected every industry imaginable in many ways, and the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank is no exception. In addition to social distancing protocols and require use of masks, the warehouse has seen its own unique challenges.
“It definitely has changed how we do things.”

Austin Harms, Food Sourcing Manager for the Food Bank, said that before COVID-19, the warehouse could, relatively simply, notice something was missing or low in stock, and start the search to replace or replenish it. After COVID began, however, food donations slowed, and that task became much more difficult.

The main reason for this dip is that even big companies and retailers who donate to the Food Bank are struggling to meet demand within their own stores, Austin said. People are stocking up and buying more. Because everyone in the country is being affected, shipments are facing delays in ordering, shipping, and delivery phases. And the warehouse has seen the results of this challenge.

“We had orders that we placed in April that didn’t even come into the warehouse until September,” Austin said.

These delays were suspected by the warehouse early on, so they began to order more than what they normally would have to plan for those delays. For example, ordering an extra load of vegetables so that by the time they arrived after any delays, the warehouse would not yet have run out of their original order.

Individual donations have also taken a hit because with all the safety precautions necessary, they cannot be verified as safe to disperse. However, Austin said they have begun to look at how individual donations could work again. One of the ideas is have the donations quarantined for 10-14 days before allowing them to be dispersed.

Product donations in general are down, but not at the fault of the community. In fact, because retailers are needing their food orders to stock their own shelves, many of them are giving the Food Bank cash donations in the name of COVID to help with the purchase of food for dispersal.

“Our major retailers in this area, like Walmart and the Walton Family,” Austin said, “are stepping up and doing above and beyond what they would typically do as a response to COVID.”

Ebony is a single mother of three (18, 7, and 5). She has been coming to the Feed the 479 food pantry in Springdale on and off for quite some time.

“I think it’s one of the best places that I’ve ever went to receive any type of help as far as food and things like that for my children,” Ebony said of the pantry. “It’s always open to help each and every person that comes in. There’s no discrimination or anything like that.”

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Feed the 479 has kept its doors open, something Ebony greatly appreciates.

“There are some pantries and churches and things that have closed their doors to the pandemic,” she said, “but not the Feed the 479.”

She said that although there might be a line to wait in and people are not able to go into the thrift store to shop, the pantry continues to ensure everyone gets what they need as efficiently as possible even during the pandemic.

Feed the 479 is located in Springdale at 3157 W. Sunset. It is one of the NWA Food Bank's partner agencies. To find a partner agency (pantry) near you, click the "find food" tab on our website. You will find a complete list of all of our 160 + partner agencies by county.

To make a one- time donation, visit: www.nwafoodbank.org/donate.