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Food Banks Urged to Buy Local Produce
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 – Courier Post
By LAVINIA DeCASTRO, Courier-Post Staff
Gov. Jon S. Corzine urged New Jersey's six food banks to continue
buying produce from local farmers during a Tuesday morning visit
to Pennsauken.
During a ceremony at the Food Bank of South Jersey, Corzine said
the partnership has allowed the state to feed the hungry while
helping local farmers.
"Our food banks are really one of the great, great assets of the state of
New Jersey," Corzine said. "It's not just the food. It's our ability
to help each other."
In the 2008-09 fiscal year, New Jersey food banks received $7 million
in funds from Corzine's Hunger Initiative, which requires them to
give priority to locally grown produce when purchasing the food that
is distributed to the hundreds of food pantries they serve.
"It would be nice to supply their needs with local produce," Vineland
farmer Vincent Consalo Jr. said.
Consalo said he hopes his family farm, William Consalo and Sons,
will provide some of the vegetables that will ultimately end up on
the table of New Jersey families in need.
"I'm glad to do whatever I can and it helps people to know that all of these
crops are grown in the state," Consalo said.
As part of the state's economic recovery plan, food banks also got
an additional $3 million to buy food, state officials said. Next
year's budget includes $4 million for the food banks.
"The needs at this time are really quite substantial," said Corzine,
adding that the state devoted $300,000 a year to purchasing food for the needy
when he first took office. "We have made food purchase for those who are
in need an absolute priority."
"New Jersey is only among a handful of states in the nation to commit additional
funds to feed the hungry," said Yvette Jackson, regional director for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service.
Valerie Traore, of the Food Bank of South Jersey, said about half
the produce at the food bank comes from local farmers. More than
half of the 5 million pounds of food that passes through the food
bank's 43,000-square-foot warehouse comes from the government or
is purchased with government money, she said.
"We are truly running out of space," Traore said.
Demand for food has increased by roughly 42 percent this year, she
said.
Last year, the food bank fulfilled 195,000 requests for food, Traore
said. This year, the food bank has already served 142,000 people
through the food pantries it stocks.
"It has increased dramatically," Traore said. "We're only six
months into the year."
To handle the added load, Traore said the food bank hopes to add
40,000 square feet to its warehouse by this time next year. The addition
would allow the food bank to bring in an extra 3 million pounds of
food a year.
"We want to be able to say yes to food donations quickly, not have to think
about where we're going to put it before we say yes," Traore said.
An addition would cost $1.5 million, which the food bank hopes to
raise through donations, government grants and bonds.
Reach Lavinia DeCastro at (856) 486-2652 or ldecastro@courierpostonline.com
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