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Food Bank Provides Access to Fresh Produce Food Bank Provides Access to Fresh Produce

The Food Bank of Central New York distributed meals to 91 households.

By Paolo Confino

Sabrina: Yeah, like carrots.

Confino: The Food Bank of Central New York’s Mobile Food Pantry handed out meals to 91 households in Palermo. But these meals were special…they included fresh produce…not just cheaper items like…canned goods and packaged foods.

Gene Kiles: You’re paying 59-cents or 69-cents for a pound of bananas that’s a little expensive.

Confino: Even though fruits and vegetables are the healthiest options they’re the toughest to afford…which can mean less healthy diets for those who need them most.

Sara Manwaring: Especially with having a 4-year-old I try to get plenty of fruits and vegetables in the house.

Confino: But that’s easier said than done. Gene Kiles says it’s just simple math.

Kiles: It’s a dollar for a box of spaghetti but I can probably get three meals out of it and if I can get three meals out of it, I’ll keep using it.

Confino: The meals the Central New York Food Bank just got done handing out included fresh produce like cabbage, potatoes, and apples. And also, dairy products like milk and cheese and some sour cream.

Confino: Mobile Food Pantry Coordinator Renzo (REN-zo) Quesada (KAY-sah-dah) knows that getting those foods into people’s diets helps beyond just their health.

Quesada: Stretch their dollar that they have to make it a little longer to go through the month a little easier without being very, very hungry.

Confino: If people get the opportunity to save on fruits and veggies they can use their money for other things they need.

Kiles: Pay my fuel bill, pay my electric bill, won’t get behind.

PALERMO, NY – The Food Bank of Central New York held a distribution event at the Palermo United Methodist Church in Palermo, NY on Tuesday, November 9, 2021. At the event 91 households received meals. Each box of food contained both perishable and non-perishable items, most notably fresh produce.

Providing fresh produce is one of the food bank’s top priorities because it both helps customers get more nutritious options in their diets and gives them the chance to put that money towards other financial priorities.

“[I’ll] pay my fuel bill,” said Gene Kiles. [I’ll] pay my electric bill and won’t get behind.”

Fresh fruits and vegetables are the most expensive items in the grocery. Which means that many food bank customers cannot afford them on their usual budgets or, if they can, those purchases have to come at the expense of something else. Usually another essential, such as heating bills or rent.

“[They] stretch their dollars,” said Renzo Quesada. “That they have to make it a little longer to go through the month…[it’s] a little easier without being very, very hungry.”

However, making sure people not only have stable access to food but that the food in question contain the proper nutrients is particularly difficult because of food safety regulations that govern certain donations. Private, third-party donations, usually made by individual people, can only consist of non-perishable food items because the food bank cannot guarantee that perishable items were properly stored prior to being donated. Which means that even if private citizens wanted to, they couldn’t donate fruits, vegetables, and dairy to the food bank. So, as a result, Quesada and the Food Bank of Central New York have to source produce from grocery stores and manufacturers. Sometimes, even resorting to buying the food directly from local farmers with funds made available via monetary donations.

Despite the added red tape for perishable food the Food Bank distributed 5.3 million pounds of produce and 2.5 million pounds of dairy products in 2020. Under Quesada’s watch the Mobile Pantry brought on three volunteers to help with distribution. While expanding its scope from one county to eight and from one event per month to 22.

To receive food customers can arrive at each distribution events’ respective location in their cars. Once in line, Quesada and his volunteers load the car with food quantities based on household number and size. There are no financial prerequisites that must be met in order to receive assistance; meals are available to anyone who attends an event.

“This is a very rewarding mission and service that we do,” said Quesada.

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