By STU CLAMPITT
You may have heard of the gallon challenge, but Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana is taking the million-gallon challenge.
Gleaners, the largest food bank in the state, just launched its third annual No One Runs on Empty campaign during the months of May and June to raise awareness of food insecurity. This year, the campaign centers on the idea of “Winners Give Milk” – looking to have people donate money towards buying gallons of milk to reach Gleaners’ goal of 1 million milk gallons in 2022. The goal for May is to fund 16,500 gallons of milk, equal to 500 gallons per driver in the Indy 500.
The Reporter spoke with Gleaners CEO John Elliott about the milk drive and the need behind it.
“Food insecure household are typically getting the food they need from multiple sources,” Elliot told The Reporter. “First, earned income – they just don’t earn enough to feed the family for the whole month. Then many times they are on a program like SNAP or WIC or kids are in the school meal program. But that still may not be enough for a family. That’s where the charitable sector enters. We close that last gap. When you shrink the other two pieces – if household incomes drop or the federal programs drop – that grows the gap that the charitable sector like Gleaners needs to fill. We are expecting another spike in need as the school year ends and the federal programs reduce.”
Photo provided
Milk is an expensive product. It is a loss-leader for most retailers. Gleaners negotiated a discounted price to wholesale, but the organization is not in the same position as retailers who can absorb the difference. That makes this drive a multi-million-dollar cost to Gleaners.
“There is a long multi-decade history of the amount of milk in food-insecure households hovering around 5 percent of the USDA recommended amount. In other words, two gallons a year instead of 52 gallons a year is what most food-insecure households have seen,” Elliot said. “We have been stuck at that level for decade after decade. So, this is also about changing that and raising the quantity of milk to affect not just hunger, but chronic health conditions that are affected so much by the mix of foods that people eat or, in many cases, the food they don’t eat. There is a lot to be said not only about the quantity of food available to neighbors in need, but the right nutritious mix and variety.”
The need for volunteers will likely increase in the weeks and months to come because of the spike in people at the food lines that started in December is now up 40 to 50 percent since then due to inflation.
“The next wave – the next significant increase is coming as school feeding programs stop for the summer and those kids need to be fed in some other way, but also the drop off in federal feeding programs,” Elliot said. “I assume you know that with SNAP and other programs, the allotments per household had been increased in response to the pandemic. Indiana made a decision legislatively with a date to end that in April. Where many states waited for the end of the presidentially declared emergency as their date to stop this program, Indiana preemptively stopped earlier. They allow for a wind-down month, which is May. That means in June SNAP benefits will drop off substantially, and so will some other federal feeding programs.”
A donation of $30 gets 10 gallons closer to the million-gallon goal. You can donate at gleaners.org/milk. You can also send a check to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, 3737 Waldemere Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46241. If you do send a check, please note on the memo line that the money is specifically for the milk drive. You can also give by texting “milk” to 55443.
To read about how much work Gleaners does right here in Hamilton County, see The Reporter’s January article at this link.
For Gleaners, Andretti serving neighbors knows no boundaries
A Gleaners patron with a flat tire had no idea the level of service she would receive. (Photo provided)
In Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gleaners partnered with Group1001, Andretti Autosport, and driver Romain Grosjean to help promote the Winners Give Milk drive. Leading up the race, last week Grosjean and the whole Andretti team were at Gleaners in Indianapolis to unveil his Grand Prix car.
“They stayed after and worked a shift in our food pantry, handed out food, carried it out to the cars, and for a while I saw Grosjean bagging potatoes and handing food out,” Elliot told the Reporter. “It is nice to see when people put a little bit of volunteer time and sweat equity toward the cause, too.”
According to Elliot, while Grosjean and the Andretti team were working in the pantry, a woman rolled into the parking lot with a flat tire.
Photo provided
“The Andretti team had their semi-trailer and their transporter here for the racecar,” Elliot said. “The next thing you know, one of the crew members runs to the truck. They unload the pit cart, and it comes rolling around our building, rolls up behind the lady’s car and the whole pit crew in their uniforms comes running out of the pantry and they change this woman’s tire. The whole time she’s standing looking dumbfounded like, ‘What’s happening here?’ We couldn’t have planned it. It was complete coincidence. That lady has a story to tell for a while.”
Photos provided