When I exclaimed to my learned friend that it was time Food banks are setup in Ghana he was bewildered and asked “You mean a bank that will give loan for food?” “No” I replied!
What is a food bank? A food bank is a non profit organization which stores and distributes non – perishable goods and perishable food items to non profit agencies involve in local emergency food assistance programs or food and nutrition interventions.
The food, call it (emergency food assistance) provides immediate hunger relief to individuals, communities and families who are unable to afford food as result of poverty, deprivation, poor harvest, and disasters such as floods, fire or even in communities where specific nutritional disorders are prevalent.
The concepts of Food Banks are not new in principle even though some of us (readers) may hear it for the first time. The United States and most countries in Europe have numerous food banks and food rescue organizations that provide food to the millions of hungry Americans. ‘Who says there are no hungry people in America?’ they have food interventions programs to mitigate hunger in the communities.
The first food bank was St. Mary’s food bank started in 1967 in Phoenix, Arizona. There is now America’s Second Harvest which represents a network of over 200 food banks across the U.S. Others operate in Canada and Europe.
What do food banks do?
They go out to purchase or solicit very large donations of food directly from food producers, manufacturers and processors, wholesalers and retailers and fund donors and bring them back to a centralized location. These are usually very large donations that would be beyond the capacity for any one community based agency to handle. They break it to manageable quantities. Food banks usually require large warehouses even up to 30,000 sq ft and volunteers. The facility can also be a packing center where certain products are packed.
The products are taken back to community to address the needs in that community in socially, culturally and religiously appropriate ways for that community. They do not distribute to individuals.
Sourcing the donations for the food banks require some education for the companies or donors and community to understand the significance of what you are doing; understand what the problem is ,why they need to be involved and why they should care about the problem.
Where does the food go?
Many people especially children and adolescents do not get the right foods to eat or the right food combinations to remain in good health. As a result they do not grow well, become ill and under perform both physically and mentally. Socially hunger breeds crime, street children, promiscuity and apathy to the development of the community.
The food from banks goes to people or community who are struggling to get enough food on their table. The food also goes to emergency food Assistance programs in communities where hunger relief interventions are needed. In Ghana one such organization that can to receive such food for distribution to the hungry may be the NADMO.
The food also goes to adult and child care centers that serve low income neighborhoods or communities with specific nutritional disorders, Before and After school programs and community kitchens.
Why Food Banks Important and why should we care?
Call it Hunger prevention organizations; Food banks make a difference by getting good nutritious useable food to families and individuals who need it.
There are hungry people in both our urban and rural communities. In this era of global recession the tendency for consumers putting less nutritious food on the table is high. The physical and mental health of the family thus suffers especially the children who are most vulnerable.
Studies have qualified and quantified the fact that food expenses are the most flexible in most low income family budget. People will cut back on food purchase so they can pay rent, utilities, school fees, purchase farm inputs etc. The situation is even worse when there is a disaster, such as floods, fire, or poor harvest. Food purchase suffers the most.
Research studies on children also indicate certain deficiencies in vitamins and mineral deter their memory, their attention span and their physiological development. Children who are hungry are twice as likely to repeat a grade at school. Hungry kids are seven times more likely than kids who eat regularly to commit violence, fight and become problem kids in our schools? These kids are hungry and if we feed them we have a lot fewer discipline problem.
We must care because we all pay the price – nobody can maintain good health, perform well at work or school and their personal relations suffer if they are hungry, malnourished and that goes all through our society and we all end up paying the price.
Eradicating hunger reduces crime, and people start thinking well and the nation develops.
What is the solution to Food insecurity?
- A strong hunger relief and prevention network composed of a really strong Food Bank, direct service organization that partner the Food Bank to get the food out into the community to the people who need it and governmental agencies that provide more institutional community program and strong community support.
Setting up Food banks in Ghana; what can we do in Ghana?
Yes we can; Setting up a food bank in Ghana should not be much difficult if the appropriate procedures or guidelines are followed. As mentioned earlier food bank should be non profit, non governmental even though some collaboration with government institutions or agencies may be appropriate.
What is necessary is for stakeholders to understand the direction of the project.
We could add another dimension to our Food banks; where excess produce or commodities are processed, packaged, and stored for food and nutrition interventions. The following guidelines may be helpful.
- Must be non profit organization
- Must serve low-income household
- Must have appropriate storage facilities
- Must be affiliated with other agencies(optional)
- Must serve household with children
- Provide own transportation
- Meet food safety and handling guidelines
- Must not sell food.
- Must monitor what amount of food is released to distribution agencies.
- Supply of food restricted on a case by case basis.
|
