September is Hunger Action Month, and here in Northeast Indiana, the Community Harvest Food Bank is working overtime to serve the area’s ever-growing population in need of food assistance.
Now in its 41st year, this dedicated not-for-profit continues to grow, developing programs, partnerships and practical plans for enacting meaningful and long-term changes while campaigning for hunger awareness.
Here WBOI’s Julia Meek discusses the complexities of the problem as well as possible solutions with Food Bank Impact Manager, Logan Haffner and Eric Maynor, Purdue Fort Wayne’s Associate Chief of Campus & Community Wellbeing.
Event Information:
Community Harvest Gala Event: Across the Eras
@ Parkview Mirro Center, Fort Wayne
Sept. 21
6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Find more information and order tickets at the Community Harvest Foodbank website.
Get in touch and involved with PFW’s Food Pantry at the Friends of the University Pantry page.
Here is the transcript of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Logan Haffner, Eric Manor, welcome.
Eric Manor: Thank you.
Logan Haffner: Thanks for having us.
Julia Meek: Now the Community Harvest Food Bank hit the ground running just over 40 years ago in response to Harvester's plant closing, and really hasn't stopped since then, acting on hunger and food insecurity. Logan, how has the need changed?
Logan Haffner: It's gone up with the population as the city kind of rebuilt, from with Harvester leaving and all the flood damage from 1982, and it just kind of built on a steady increase all the way up, really through Covid. And then when Covid hit, obviously the need instantly skyrocketed.
And what we've really been running into in the last couple of years is an unprecedented mix of dwindling resources, while the need is increasing faster than we've ever seen it. So, a lot of people want to think it's same old, same old, but it really is getting more and more complex every day, as well as just increasing in general.
Julia Meek: So, Eric, as one of the newer populations at risk, food wise, how is the problem really getting in the way, from your standpoint? What has changed in your world?
Eric Manor: Well, I think it's important to take a step back and consider that, yes, it may be new, it's been brought to surface, but in no means is this the first time that college students are hungry and having to look for outside resources beyond their own means to get the food that they need.
Some very basic things, you can imagine trying to study and being hungry, right? And that's the void we try to fill at the food bank. But we are also opening to community members as well.
Julia Meek: That's a big task, and it's a big population that you are serving.
Eric Manor: Yeah, we have 7,000-7,500 give or take, total enrollment coming into this fall semester. Our Food Bank utilization just continues to grow year after year.
We were up from last year to this year about 75% and that is up from the previous years as well. So, we have no reason to believe that utilization won't continue to increase, and our services won't be used on campus.
Julia Meek: Unfortunately. So okay, please do the food bank math, Logan. Nearly 1 million meals distributed last year, nearly 100,000 people served even more needing help, across nine counties. Including what Eric just shared with us, how does this year compare?
Logan Haffner: Right now, our fiscal year runs through the end of July, so we're early goings as far as this year, but calendar year, we are on track to distribute food to roughly 22% more people this year than we did last year. And we are also on pace to distribute about 5% fewer pounds of food to that same community.
And this is kind of, when we reference that growing increase. But also, the resources, both financial and product wise, are going down. The retail partners that we get most of our food from, as far as donations go, they're tightening up their practices as well, trying to limit waste. They're doing what we're all trying to do, unfortunately, less waste for everybody else means less product for us, more often than not.
And so, we're having to kind of develop new ways to source food, you know, create new relationships, get more involved with unconventional partnerships, or at least previously thought of as unconventional partnerships, to really figure out, how do we make every single pound of food go that much farther, and how do we increase pounds of food that we have to distribute in the first place.
Eric Manor: Yeah, thanks for saying that, Logan, because the shortage that Community Harvest experiences doesn't only affect those visiting Community Harvest.
Those shortages directly affect smaller food banks and outlets like our pantry on campus, but also every other county that Community Harvest serves. So, keep that in mind when Logan's mentioning shortages.
Julia Meek: Concentric rings that keep going and going and going.
Eric Manor: Correct. It is definitely a trickle-down effect that affects a lot of people.
Julia Meek: Way too many people. Now put your two forces together, the Food Bank and the campus. How did it actually happen, and how does it actually work?
Logan Haffner: The way that Purdue Fort Wayne's pantry works is really similar to how a lot of our agencies work. I mean, not trying to just butter you up, Eric, but I think the Purdue Fort Wayne pantry is an excellent example on how to efficiently and effectively run a pantry.
If anybody hasn't had a chance to experience that and see it, I recommend doing it, but essentially, you just set up an organization. And you know, Community Harvest is centrally placed, and thankfully, a lot of people know who we are. We've been around for 41 years, and you reach out to us and just say that you need food.
And we send you some paperwork, we inspect your facility, and if everything checks out, as it usually does, we figure out delivery routes, we figure out what a pickup schedule needs to look like. We let you know what we have, and you order what you can.
Julia Meek: It would be aa happy problem for you, to be sure, Eric. How did you install or figure out where you're going to put this food bank?
Eric Manor: Sure. So, to be transparent, somebody did the legwork for me. (all chuckle) Our campus opened our food bank in 2017, I arrived at campus in 2019 and shortly after that, arriving to campus, and then it became something I would oversee under my umbrella.
Nothing I ever anticipated doing, to be honest, however, has been one of the most rewarding pieces of my work, and has changed my perspective and made me a better person, firsthand, seeing the need and also being able to meet that need currently the best that we're able to with good partners like Community Harvest.
Julia Meek: And it sounds like your layout and everything was done nicely, from what you're indicating.
Eric Manor: Yeah, well, that's, it has changed over the past several years. We've had different locations, we're currently in our third location. Each location that we moved to on campus got a little bit more inviting, I would say.
The location we're in now downstairs in Walb Union on campus, just across from the cafeteria, is by far our best location. It actually used to be an old market on campus, more like a convenience store for students.
Covid came through, some things were done, and they decided not to reopen that space. And we were blessed to receive that space, considering how hard it is to come by space on campus.
Julia Meek: (chuckles) That's a great point, and kind of tailor made, perfectly set out for you.
Eric Manor: Yeah, yeah. So that was a huge deal for us, because we try our very best to make this a market feel, to make it feel inviting, to make it feel that there's really no difference. Obviously, there's a difference, but we want to make everyone feel welcomed, and any stigma that may be out there for somebody needing resources is at least not as obvious, just to make a welcoming environment.
Julia Meek: Good for you. Now one of the Community Harvest Food Bank's programs that addresses multiple problems of food insecurity and food waste, and certainly contributes, this summer, for example, to good eating, Logan, would be the Community Harvest Food Banks Grow a Row project. How's that doing for you and organizations like Eric's?
Logan Haffner: Yeah, we're fans of it. It's very new for us, and this year was really the first year where we found a niche to deliver it in an effective way. We launched the growing season at the Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show. We're hoping to maybe continue doing that every year.
It's a fun little launch point. That's kind of when the growing season starts. And we've encouraged people to grab some seeds. we provide them free of cost, thankfully, again, with a lot of our great retail partners. They'll just toss seeds our way, and we can hand them out.
And we've actually now got a list of gardening enthusiasts and their addresses, and we can mail them seeds. It's really easy to get signed up. So, we're really seeing the traction grow in a really exciting way for the first time this year, and we are expecting that to kind of turn around and yield produce donations. We also tell people the produce that they grow does not need to come to us.
There are so many pantries that will accept donations directly. If they don't know where to take it, we will take it, absolutely, and we'll make sure that it gets to someone that's in need. But if they're giving it to other pantries, if they're giving it directly to people that they know need food, we just wanted to go to somebody that needs it.
So, it's been exciting. It's been a new fun way to reach out to people and to get the message across, reach a community that maybe wasn't as excited about getting involved as they could be.
And that's kind of what we're looking at doing, not just with this program, but in the future, creating new avenues for people to get involved and changing on what that, you know, how do I help answer? We want to change that answer to that question to be as broad as humanly possible.
Julia Meek: And you see the, well, move over, if not trickle down, theory of the fresh produce right there on campus, Eric. Can college students see beyond pizza?
Eric Manor: Believe it or not, they can, and they do. You know, all my background in undergrad and graduate school was all focused on health and wellbeing and being as healthy as possible. And through that experience, we are told, which I'm not saying, is not true, that we don't as a human race, eat enough fruits and vegetables.
That's true. We probably could all agree on that for one reason or the other. Now, when I step back and I look at the food bank, and I see students and community members coming in, it makes their day to have that fresh produce in our space. And it goes and it goes fast. The only time we don't see it go, maybe, if there's something they just, college students aren't historically great chefs. (chuckles)
They may not know, one, what it is, or two, how to use it while preparing food. However, we do some things with recipes that we try to incorporate whatever ingredient that is, that fresh produce, for example, into a recipe, and give the students recipes when we're able to do that.
But definitely, we can't keep fresh produce on our shelves, and whether that's through Community Harvest or, like Logan alluded to, the campus partners that we have that grow right on campus that donate to us.
And then in addition, we have a gentleman who stopped in and donated a bunch of tomatoes yesterday and just said, Hey, we're a group of veterinarians locally that just want to give back. And here's a bunch of produce we can't use. And then the next hour, those were gone.
Julia Meek: So statistically, Logan, just, where do we fit on the national food chain as we are tackling all this stuff, and are we making progress?
Logan Haffner: We are right about dead in the middle, if we're ranking all the 50 states food insecurity ratings, we as a state, and specifically Northeastern Indiana, we're right around 11.9%. These are estimations on, like very comprehensive studies that are done, the Alice Report, Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap reports, those come out annually, and they're usually tracking behind two years because they're so comprehensive.
Unfortunately, because they're behind two years and because food insecurity is just a complex mechanism that needs to be measured by a lot of things that, frankly, you cannot quantify, these reports aren't always the final say in what that looks like. So as far as quantifiable data can tell us, Northeastern Indiana is about on par with everybody else.
Are we making progress? The short answer is no. Food banks are growing; our impacts we are trying to grow at the networks are increasing. Unfortunately, food insecurity numbers are also increasing at a higher rate than the population of the country is increasing.
We are going to need to understand that this post Covid climate of restricted resources and increased need and increased financial instability are not going anywhere. And we are going to have to understand that efforts that we were making, that we were maybe keeping things in check, or we were feeling satisfied about even 5-10 years ago, they're not sufficient.
There was always room for improvement. There always will be room for improvement, but the treading water thing, or the kind of keeping methods that were practiced and we're used to, and we're very good at, it's just not going to be as sufficient as it used to be.
And a catchphrase that I throw around at work all the time, that my coworkers are going to hit me for saying again, is the future is inherently collaborative. There is zero chance that us all operating independently, are gonna be able to make a real dent in the actual systemic issues that cause food insecurity.
We can feed people, but that's not the actual issue. That's a symptom of the issue, and we're gonna have to figure out more elaborate and comprehensive ways to work together to solve the real issues that drive people to our programs in the first place.
Julia Meek: You're still saying that bottom line is working together?
Logan Haffner: Bottom line that does make old, hard sense, and especially from your perspective, Eric, can all of this, if we can do it, make a generational difference, you know, make that break in the generational problem with food insecurity?
Logan Haffner: We, we have to there's no other way. We have to make fewer resources go farther, and we're going to have to be more comprehensive. We can't just keep owning our areas and addressing the people that are coming to us.
We're going to have to understand that financial security, the flux of the job market, child care, these things are all intrinsically tied together, and unless we are making efforts to actively tie these services that we provide together, we can put a lot of band aids on a lot of leaks, I'm mixing metaphors, obviously, but we're not going to move the dial on the actual problems that are causing these issues in the first place, until we can find better ways to communicate and work together and creatively and collaboratively as different organizations.
Eric Manor: Yes, I believe so. I would like to see how that's going to happen, because it's going to take, as Logan alluded, to, a lot of people understanding what the challenges are, understanding how everything is directly connected, and lawmakers to pass legislation to make a bigger change in what we're seeing now, whether that be funding for whatever these challenges are.
I don't want to speak for anyone else's challenges, but I know just from the college perspective, some support there is highly needed.
Logan Haffner: Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of like societal changes, and you alluded to, you know, political movements and things like that. These things happen from pressure that, like when communities come together, and they are just very loud about the fact that they all, regardless of what percentage of them are demographics that are targeted by these sorts of issues and which ones are not, that a community comes together and clamors for solutions for these sorts of things.
And that starts with a broader understanding of the issue, so that people just get that it's not a small thing that just inconveniences people, and it's far more widespread than they think it is. It's far more widespread than a lot of these reports insinuate that it is, and it's, again, I keep saying it, but the whole community has to come together in a more or less united front.
Not just to come up with solutions. We can do a lot of things. I think that we are capable, as people, of doing something exciting and generationally significant. But if we wanted to be permanent and we want to feel really good about it, yeah, I mean, the government's gonna have to get involved.
They have more resources than we do, and the best way to do that is to put pressure on our elected officials and committees and let them know that this is something that we are actively vested in fixing, and you know, that all starts to just coming together and having those conversations.
Julia Meek: And demanding it, perhaps. Now you are in the middle of academic activity over there, Eric, how do these topics work their way into student and or faculty projects, even curricula? Can this generation help make the change that Logan is telling us that we need to make?
Eric Manor: They could definitely contribute. In regards to how we work with faculty, staff and students? On our campus, there is a growing awareness of the Food Bank and the growing awareness of, “Wow, this is a real need.” This is serious. This isn't just, you know, I'm just hungry tonight, and I'll get my paycheck tomorrow, and everything's going to be fine.
From a student perspective, there's more awareness going on. More faculty are being introduced to the idea this is a true need amongst their students, and can really affect their academic performance and their ability to sit in class or maybe even get to class, depending on how they're feeling. And there's great relationships among our faculty and staff working together to provide for the students the best we can.
Little things--going into classes, sharing about the food bank. Professors, sharing that there is a food bank when they pass out their syllabi for the first day of class. We work with the staff on my end and our department works with staff, or faculty all over campus. We have food bins and all buildings to collect donations.
We have Food of the Month clubs that faculty members join as their department, and we give them an item to collect. They collect that item for the month, and then we come by, pick those items up and take them to the food bank. And that's just a number of partnerships we have.
There's Payroll Feduct as well, for faculty and staff to give directly the food bank from their check. So, there's lots of options.
Julia Meek: There's lots of energy given over to making these commitments and activating them and making them really work.
Eric Manor: Yeah, yeah! Activating it, awareness and making it normal. It just part of the culture. Just what we do. We just support those that need food.
Julia Meek: Now, okay, this being the month that we devote to hunger action and awareness. What is going on in your respective worlds?
Logan Haffner: Community Harvest does our annual big fundraising gala every year in September. Tickets are available on our website, and you'll find links all over our Facebook on more information about it and how to get involved.
There's gonna be live music. The theme is "eras," and you're supposed to come dressed as your favorite decade. I'll be wearing a tuxedo made in 1911 because that's my favorite decade. (chuckles) There's going to be dinner provided, there will be several bars open.
We're going to be doing a live auction, as well as just general fundraising for our largest programs and the pillars of service that we do.
Julia Meek: What fun! And what about you, Eric?
Eric Manor: Not necessarily in September, but we're gearing up and actually planning right now with Community Harvest the largest food drive of the year that we have on our campus, in partnership with community harvest and all the other local universities that participate in this, called "You Can Crush Hunger."
And that's on the latter end of October, into the first week of November. So, we're getting all the marketing materials ready right now. Community Harvest kind of leads the effort, if you will, and organizes us, along with all the other universities.
Julia Meek: What a wonderful campaign.
Eric Manor: Absolutely,
Julia Meek: You know, if it takes a village to need your services, Logan, and it takes a village to provide the services, using metaphors, that's quite a juggling act. Are you ever worried it might all come crashing down before change can happen?
Logan Haffner: Um, I guess the worry is there, but we can't waste time thinking about it. It's not something that I spend a lot of time dwelling on, because we're so focused on the solutions, or just like the peacekeeping action, so to speak, that will prevent that from happening.
If we all just keep doing what we're doing, and where we're keeping our eyes open and we're looking out of that kind of stuff. As long as organizations like Eric's, at PFW is doing stuff that they're doing right now. That's the hope that we need.
We've talked about collaboration, and Eric has a great job expanding on things that just PFW is doing. But all those little different pieces work together, and they just do tiny little things every single day. You could literally take everything that he just mentioned and scale it, you know, instead of classrooms, it's businesses. And instead of, you know, bringing it down the hall, we just get transportation experts involved.
We can scale that sort of thing where everyone is just doing little things. And the key there is, again, normalizing it. We have to just make this a part of taking care of our community. And taking care of our community needs to be a normal thing.
I mean, we grow up around each other, we work around each other. We pass each other on the street. There's no reason we shouldn't have like this innate human need to just take care of each other.
And as long as we are all driven to do that, and as long as we just go about our days with the basic essence of humanity and wanting to help your neighbor and your friends, I don't think it can fall out.
There are ways where the bottom could fall out, I guess. But I like to think that, you know, we're better than that. We're better than letting that happen.
I think that all of the change that we have to make is complicated and it's a lot of work, but I have to believe that it's possible. People have done amazing things in the past, and there's no reason why we can't just be people like that.
Julia Meek: It's good to hear you say that, and what do you two say--what can you say to those who just don't believe hunger is a real problem, or that poverty is shameful, and hunger is it's just reward?
Logan Haffner: Honestly, all you can really do with people like that is obviously, that if they've dug their heels in if they have an opinion that is that out of touch with reality, because that's what it is. They have chosen to no longer pay attention to the obvious proof that they are incorrect.
The only real approach is patience. You will not win them over with a single dramatic story. You won't win them over with a single statistic. They are gonna have all of these rationales in their brain that shoot down all the individual points that you make.
And so, it's a series of conversations. It's a series of rebuttals, that every time they've got this idea crafted that discounts the human experiences that lead to our services being necessary, you just have to be the patient one who says, well, actually, you know, you think that it's this person doing this, but actually it's this. And eventually they'll run out of excuses.
I would love to say that there's just a simple solution. Experience is such an important part of the human existence that if someone's experience simply does not lead them to these conclusions, it takes so much to override that.
We've honestly turned a decent amount of people at Community Harvest from cynical volunteers to excited volunteers, just by displaying humanity, being a person that other people might be excited to want to be more like. And then you get caught up in the mission, and you start to feel good about what you're doing.
Eric Manor: Yeah, great point. You know, behavior change is such a complex thing, and sometimes we won't change until we experience it. And that's what takes a lot of people to change their mind, because food insecurity for individuals, a lot of the time, not always, but a lot of the time isn't forever.
You go through rough patches in life. You lose a job, you lose a spouse that was a breadwinner. Or it's, you know, you've been injured, you're off work, you don't have a lot of family support or friend support out there. That could be you, that could easily be you.
Regardless of how much money you make, there's food insecurity at one point or another--could be food insecurity with wherever you're at in life. So sometimes, there's nothing I'm gonna say, but there's potentially life circumstance that will change you, and you would experience that.
And if you put yourself in that person's shoes for just a few minutes, and think about what may have happened to them to put them in this spot, you may start to at least see another viewpoint of somebody going through food insecurity.
And then I would challenge, for those that maybe don't see this as a problem, to also go volunteer at whatever pantry it is, and don't just volunteer for a day or for an hour, one time. Get to know the folks coming through there, and you'll start to hear stories and get a better comprehensive view on what food insecurity really is like.
Julia Meek: Logan Haffner is Impact Manager for Community Harvest Food Bank, and Eric Manor, Purdue Fort Wayne's Associate Chief of Campus and Community Wellbeing. Thank you for sharing your work and your story of it with us, guys. Best of luck. Keep it up. Do carry the gift.
Logan Haffner: Thank you.
Eric Manor: Thank you.
