It is hard to believe that it is January 2022. It seems like last week when I sat down to write my January 2021 column. Last year I stated with the following statement. “We have heard the word “unprecedented” bantered about on a variety of topics for the year 2020.” No one, certainly not me could have ever imagined that 2021 was going to be a mirror image.

As I did last year this time, please allow me the opportunity to share some year-end numbers with you.

We had over 15,000 donations to the Food Bank.

Those donations came from over 6,400 individual donors.

These two totals were down slightly from last year but if you compare them to pre-pandemic 2019 both were double that year’s totals. While those numbers were not record shattering, they were critical when you look at the following set of operational numbers. For the year (pending final reporting) we:

• Spent over $2.3 million dollars buying food
• Distributed an estimated 14 million pounds of food to our four- county service area.

As we look at this number it is important to note that USDA (food provided by the US Government) was 4.3 million pounds less than 2020.

We served over 30,000 families totaling over 100,000 neighbors in need at our mobile pantry locations.

Our 13 school pantries fed over 7,600 families/ 35,550 individuals.

We invested over $100,000 in our partner agencies. Our agency capacity grant program purchased refrigerators, freezer, installed a water line for neighbors to get fresh water, and bought shelving just to name a few of the ways we worked to help our partner agencies increase the amount of people they could help.

To paraphrase what a friend and former board member told me a couple of years ago, December 31 is just a date on the calendar. The world did not stop turning on January 1. The need for our services did not go away. If anything, we anticipate the need will continue to grow in 2022 and beyond as inflation continues to make the dollar buy less than it did before. COVID 19 will continue to force individuals to miss work and in many cases miss that paycheck that keeps them afloat. Long story short, we will continue to need your support in the upcoming year as we battle against food insecurity.

Tomorrow is a mystery. Who knows what it will bring. However, two things you can count on is that your donations to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank will make a difference in the lives of thousands of your neighbors. And secondly, we will get through this together. I cannot thank you enough.

Have a blessed 2022 and remember that because of you someone will eat today.

The definition of a caregiver is a paid helper who regularly looks after a child, a sick elderly, or disabled person. For one Fayetteville resident, Marzetta, that is her career path, to help and take care of people. With her work hours recently cut in half, Marzetta found herself in the position to need help with a basic necessity- food. “This works for me because I’m able to come get food. Food is so high now and I appreciate that we have somewhere to come to be able to get this food, it’s hard. It means a lot to me, I moved here from Pine Bluff and they don’t have many things like this, Northwest Arkansas has helped us out a lot,” says Marzetta. The caregiver heard about one of our partner agencies, Feed the 479, that passes out food weekly, from her neighbor. The set up at Feed the 479 is a client choice style food pantry which gives our neighbors the ability to choose what food items would work best in their households. “This is like a grocery store to choose what works for my family. I appreciate the help,” says Marzetta. But she’s also thankful for any type of aid with food products. She lives in a complex with 6 other residents and tells us if there’s anything she doesn’t use, she donates the remaining food to them.

photo does not represent actual client

During 2021 we saw record numbers at our Mobile Pantries and School Pantries. We could not provide the food to those who visit these pantries without YOUR help. Every dollar donated provides up to eight meals for those in need.

Here are our 2021 numbers at a glance.

Mobile Pantries - We hosted 17 mobile pantries each month at various locations across Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties. Four of these pantries were possible because of a partnership with Tyson. At these pantries we served 31,527 households and 104,957 individuals.

School Pantries - We have partnered with 13 different schools to provide food to their students and their families. At these pantries, we served 7,610 households and 35,550 individuals.

To make a one-time donation today, please visit www.nwafoodbank.org/donate .
All donations stay right here in Northwest Arkansas to help your neighbors in need.

Thank you to all of our wonderful community partners for your support of our organization! Pictured here are just a few of the companies that so graciously donate funds to us to help us feed our food insecure neighbors. Pictured are representatives of City Title & Closing, First Convenience Bank and Pig Trail Harley Davidson.

An open letter to the readers of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette:

On behalf of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank board of directors, staff and most importantly the neighbors we serve, please allow me to express our deepest appreciation for the $22,097.10 you contributed to the Food Bank through the Community Christmas Card.

Combining other donations, the buying power of being a Feeding America Food Bank and a lean operational budget, your monetary support will result in over 175,000 meals that can be distributed to our neighbors in need over our four-county service area. Equally as important is the fact that the Community Christmas Card not only raised money, but raised awareness of the growing number of hard-working neighbors who simply cannot stretch their budget far enough to put a nutritious meal on the table.

The holidays are especially tough for those families we serve. In many cases their children, who have received daily nutrition through school meals, are out of school putting additional pressure on their food budget. Your generous support allows us to stock and distribute much needed food through our 135 partner agencies and our own mobile pantry division.

Because of you, someone will eat today.

Kent

President/CEO Northwest Arkansas Food Ba nk

Our volunteers are such a valuable part of our organization. We couldn’t do what we do without each and every volunteer who gives of their time and talent. For the month of December, we welcomed 97 volunteers who gave 345 hours of their time to help us feed our neighbors who are food insecure.

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

If you would like to volunteer, please visit our website www.nwafoodbank.org and click the “volunteer” button at the top of the screen. We would love to have you!

Nancy Dignan has always had a passion to serve expectant mothers and families preparing for the joy of welcoming a new baby. Trained as a midwife and nurse, Nancy and her husband, Richard Dignan, saw an opportunity to walk alongside growing families in Madison County by opening a center where families could receive baby items, counseling, and support. This vision became a reality in 2001 when Open Arms Pregnancy Center opened its doors.

At its core, Open Arms’ work aims to lessen the monetary stressors that can come along with supporting a newborn child. “One day this family came in and their daughter came to visit them and they didn’t know she had a baby and the next morning they got up and the mother was gone and the baby was left with them and they had nothing. They didn’t know where to turn and they had heard about us through their church and we had all the stuff they would need so we just loaded them up,” says Dignan. Nearly 20 years later, the Dignan’s have had the pleasure of watching that child grow up and flourish, which brings such a feeling of accomplishment. At the center, families can expect to receive: diapers, formula, Boppy pillows, car seats, cribs, and other forms of support. They even have breast feeding consultants to help mothers who breast feed!

One thing Nancy tells us is that all of the staff at Open Arms Pregnancy Center want to find joy in every situation. “A lot of moms come through that they feel really down or upset that they found out that they were pregnant and we just would celebrate with them and let them know that they’re going to get through this and it’s a real blessing, you may not feel like that right now but you’re going to be so blessed,” says Dignan. Some of those mothers will tell Nancy years later that, while preparing for their child’s birth may have been a bump in the road, they realize now that they are blessed and were thankful for the support and help.

While loading up families with baby items, families began to ask if Open Arms could also help out with food. To meet that need, Open Arms expanded their operation to open a food pantry with the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. “We knew seniors, single moms and disabled people… they really needed something monthly to help make ends meet,” says Dignan. At first, Nancy wasn’t too sure about the food pantry, but now, especially during COVID, being able to interact with her neighbors directly about what this food does for their families, made staff want to do more. They even partnered with UAMS and Arvest bank to add a drive thru extension on the front of their location to make distribution of food during COVID a bit safer for staff, seeing up to 60 neighbors per week. “It’s really been so much better, we can see more people and get them in and out faster,” says Dignan.

Open Arms Pregnancy Center and Food Pantry staff also help out with drug and alcohol rehabilitation, hosting classes through Teen Challenge and the court system for those needing it. “We help them… they’re struggling,” says Dignan.

As the Dignan’s look toward the future of Open Arms Pregnancy Center and Food Pantry, they plan on getting their aquaponics system up and running to grow fish and vegetables that they can give out to families that visit the center. They also are making an enclosed play area for the children to have a safe space to be a kid. If you want to get involved with Open Arms Pregnancy Center, they are needing toiletries, any new or lightly used baby furniture, and toys. Monetary donations are always welcome.