Rockingham food banks get boost

By Mike Ryan

Published: December 4, 2008

The Rockingham County Chapter of the American Red Cross received some much needed help earlier this week.
Tuesday morning, United Way of Rockingham County Executive Director Rick Hurley and Sheriff Sam Page presented a $5,000 check to Bobbie Seagraves, executive director of the local ARC chapter. The check was made possible by an emergency fund that United Way established to help in critical times, such as during natural disasters or economic downturns.
“This will help the food pantry get through January and better serve the people of Rockingham County,” Hurley said.
Hurley said United Way had about an 8 percent decrease in this year’s funding due to a shortage of money raised in the 2007 campaign. He believes the 2008 goal of $900,000 will help sustain the needs of United Ways’ 20 agencies. If the goal isn’t reached, then funds will have to be reduced again.
In addition to funding being cut, the Red Cross has seen a significant increase in the number of people requesting assistance. Seagraves said applications for food are up 46 percent over this time last year.
Seagraves estimated the agency serves 425 clients every month. On Nov. 3 and again on Nov. 10, the organization had more than 125 people seeking food.
“We give out food Monday through Friday. And Mondays were wiping us out,” Seagraves said.
Getting donations to replenish the food pantry takes time. With people constantly coming in, the organization was, at times, left without food.
On six occasions last month, Seagraves had to put a sign on the door that read, “We are out of food for the day.”
“It’s a terrible feeling,” Seagraves said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Seagraves has bought items with her own money but said she can’t afford to do so every time the pantry is empty. Even with all of the other pantries in the county, there still is not enough food to go around.
“A lot of people are getting turned away,” she said. “If we had the food available we could probably serve 1,000 people a month.”
With unemployment in the county at 8.6 percent, according to the Employment Security Commission, lack of jobs is the most common answer Seagraves gets as to why people need help. She said there are also many people who have disabilities or are on a fixed income. The state unemployment rate was 6.7 percent, as of October.
The Red Cross usually receives more food and monetary donations around the holidays. Seagraves said monetary donations are down this year, probably because of the recession.
“There are a lot of people in the county in need. All the nonprofits are seeing it,” she said. “The people I see aren’t worried about the stock market. They are worried about how they are going to feed their family for the next meal.”
Page addressed his employees this week with a plea for cash donations for the United Way drive. He also asked for continued support of “Arresting Hunger,” whether people stop a deputy to make a donation or bring food to the sheriff’s office.
“The $5,000 check presented to our Red Cross Chapter was an example of the benefit in contributing to United Way. Without this money, fewer items of food would be available for the less fortunate. It should also serve as an incentive for others to give so that United Way services to the many local agencies might be sustained,” Page said.
Seagraves applied for the grant about a week ago. She believes the turnaround was so quick because the need is so great.
“The grant came about at a wonderful time. The check will help out a great deal,” she said.
The money will be used to buy food at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Winston-Salem. Seagraves said they the agency will buy items such as chicken, cereal, rice, beans and powdered milk.
“We’re able to get food at pennies on the dollar,” she said. “It’ll go a long way.”