Food Pantries Worry After Feeding Tampa Bay Ends Distribution to Food Bank of Manatee

Michael Moore Jr.

Since Feeding Tampa Bay ended its contract with The Food Bank of Manatee two summers ago and changed the way it distributes food in the county, some local food pantries say they have struggled to keep their doors open.

Others who have managed to stay open say they've seen substantial price increases and are overburdened and inconvenienced by the new process they have to go through to get food on the tables of those in need.

"I call it 'the mess,'" said Sue Philbrick, who has volunteered as the leader for St. George's Episcopal Church for the last three years, where they serve food to the community on the first and third Thursday of each month from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

This past Thursday, the more than 20 people who showed up to the church looking for a meal had to be entertained by the priest singing Christmas carols for more than an hour and a half while they waited for the delivery truck from Feeding Tampa Bay to arrive. It was stuck on Interstate 75 because of an accident, she said — a hiccup that she believed was inevitable when the Tampa-based charity switched in July 2018 from using the Food Bank of Manatee as the food distributor to distributing the food themselves.

But Feeding Tampa Bay — which now works directly with food pantries and grocery stores to supply food with an increased focus on perishable, healthy and nutritious items — says more food is being delivered to Manatee than ever before.

"There's been more food delivered last year than the year before and the year before that, so it's inaccurate to say that less food is being delivered. More food is being delivered," said Thomas Mantz, president and CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay.

While a particular mission partner may have less food in the past, they are actually moving quite a bit more food than they have in previous years, according to Mantz. But as they gear toward less long-term storage of food and more toward moving perishable items at a higher volume, which Mantz said "are the hardest foods for families to get and the most critical," this may be putting some smaller food pantries at a disadvantage as they struggle to cope with a newer model of food distribution.

Gene Tischer of Stillpoint Mission, a food pantry in Manatee County, said it's "been a disaster" since switching to Feeding Tampa Bay. Many of the smaller local food pantries, he's heard, have had to close because of the changes.

"The Food Banks of Manatee did a tremendous service for all of the local agencies, and that was totally obliterated when Feeding Tampa Bay took over and a lot of us just couldn't do it anymore," Tischer said.

Philbrick echoed these remarks. Now that she must rely on delivery services from Tampa instead of going to pick up food directly from The Food Bank of Manatee, she said her prices have increased by more than 40%, because of shared maintenance fees and other expenses incurred through the new distribution system.

A "shared maintenance fee," according to the Atlanta Community Food Bank website, is "a handling fee paid to Feeding America member food banks by partner agencies" that is "in return for services provided" such as operations of warehousing and distribution of donated food.

"It's like Feeding Tampa Bay became a dictator and took over everything and now just decides all the rules," said Philbrick.

According to her, Tischer and others, food that is donated at grocery stores in Manatee to Feeding Tampa Bay is then shipped to Tampa, while only a fraction of that food is brought back to the community.

Mantz disagreed, saying that this is a "piece of factual inaccuracy that persists, is inaccurate and is just wrong." Not only is no food taken from grocery stores out of Manatee County, he said that more than a million pounds of food is being brought from outside sources into the community to accommodate for shortages.

"There's not enough food in Manatee County to feed folks, so we bring in extra," said Mantz. This, he said, could be the source of the misconception, because food delivery trucks are bringing in extra food from outside sources into the county before picking up local donations from the grocery stores and other sources.

"We have addressed this rumor a number of times. Just think about it logically. Why would we go get food in Manatee and bring it up to Tampa just to bring it back down to Manatee? That makes no sense," said Mantz.

But Philbrick believes that it's important people are aware that when you go to a local grocery store and the cashier asks you to "support our local food bank" that this food is being controlled by an organization in Tampa, not in Manatee County.

That's why she said it is important for residents to donate directly to The Food Bank of Manatee. While they may not be contracted as the direct food supplier with grocery stores, their local food drives still go a long way in supporting the community, she said — they also provide all of their baby bags and diapers for St. George's Episcopal Church's baby pantry, according to Philbrick.

A recent food drive was conducted by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, which collected nearly 1,000 pounds of food, according to Sheriff's spokesperson Randy Warren. These and similar local food drives are essential to feeding the hungry population in the community, said Amy Towery, vice president of development for Meals on Wheels Plus of Manatee, which operates the Food Bank of Manatee.

"With the holidays, people are really thinking of those in need, and it's at the front of mind for a lot of people, so donations are up this time of year. And we're so grateful for the way the community has responded to the needs of Manatee County," said Towery. "But we need to support that need 12 months out of the year, so we're really hoping to see the strong level of support during this holiday season carry over for the rest of the year, because we need food all of the time and agencies are counting on us to have that food."

southwellbregat.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/manatee/2019/12/20/manatee-county-food-pantries-say-they-are-struggling-because-of-new-food-distribution-system/2038130007/

Share :