Feed your neighbors

During last week’s City Council meeting, the City Council vote to adopt the 2008-2009 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Action Plan, CDBG for those who do not know is funding from the Housing and Urban Development Department of the federal government to provide social services to communities.  Notwithstanding the strange line of questioning that Doug deHaan was heading toward initially, the council seemed very supportive of the efforts of the Social Services and Human Relations Board (SSHRB) who made the ultimate decision on which groups (after submitting a grant application) would receive funding and what the level of that funding would be.

One of this years grantee organizations is the Alameda Food Bank which the Alameda Sun ran a great story about in last week’s paper.    One of the things that struck me during the meeting and reinforced by this article was when the Food Bank’s manager spoke in support of the Council approving the Action Plan he mentioned that there has been a substantial increase in the number of Alameda families that have needed the services of the Food Bank.   Certainly that is not surprising since many articles have been coming out about the cost of necessities like bread, eggs, and milk rising.   These are things that unfortunately the majority of us cannot go without.  Even rice is taking a pretty big hit as well, I was surprised to see that 99 Ranch, the Asian version of Albertsons and Safeway, was carrying so little rice and certainly not my brand of choice.   When I went to look on line to see what the heck was going on it appears that countries like Vietnam are holding back a large number of their rice cops to maintain its own food security, so once my bag of Three Ladies runs out, I might be forced to buy some other brand, but I digress. 

Anyway, the article reminds us that this down turn in the economy is affecting more than just reckless real estate speculators, but our friends and neighbors whose pocketbooks may be a little tighter than our own.   For those of us that can afford to part with some extra cash during these difficult times (tax write-off!) the Alameda Food Bank wouldn’t be a bad choice.  Highlights from the article:

…[T]imes are hard these days. Paul Russell, executive director, said that their intake of clients is up by some 35 percent over this time last year. “Every month has been 30 to 40 percent higher,” he said. With 145 new households asking for aid, over 73 last year, Russell said “It’s trending upward in a very significant way.”

While most Alamedans know that the winter holidays are a great time to donate food, people are hungry all year long. The Alameda Food Bank is gearing up for its “Spring Challenge,” asking locals to match corporate donations. As well, May 10 is the day that the postal letter carriers nationally will collect food from front porches…all the food collected in Alameda that day will go to the Alameda Food Bank…

All donations are appreciated, according to Russell. “Anyone who can give what they can is an incredible person,” said Russell. “We could not do it without Alamedans. Individuals throughout the city make it click on all counts.”