Denise's Oaxaca Service-Learning Blog

We assembled in the classroom on the seventh floor of the Moody Learning Center before walking over to the ACCD's Motor Pool to jump into our mega van. Turns out it's not as mega as we need. The van they gave us safely holds 11 people, which worked for today because Melissa was at her son's karate tournament in El Paso. Two brand-new vans the ACCD just ordered, which seat 12, are scheduled to go back to the Austin dealer to have their AC systems worked on next week. I'm going to check with the motor pool chief on Monday morning to see if they can hold off sending them for service one more week. I really don't want us to have to take two separate vans to our site visits: less camaraderie, more expensive (cost of gas), more air pollution.

But enough about technical/logistical difficulties! Our visit to the San Antonio Food Bank was a success. The preparatory readings we did armed us with a substantial amount of information about poverty:

•More than 36 million Americans experience hunger each month. (Of those, more than 13 million are children and 4 million are seniors.)
•One in five people in the San Antonio region lives in poverty.
•One in four children lives in poverty and experiences hunger every day.
•Bexar County has one of the highest rates of family eligibility for Food Stamps, but it has one of the lowest rates of participation.
•Texas has the fourth highest rate of actual hunger in the nation.
•Texas has more children living in poverty than anywhere else in the United States.
•Only eight out of 100 eligible Texas children participate in the USDA Summer Feeding Program. In San Antonio, only seven out of 100 participate. (The seven bullet points above came from www.safoodbank.org/facts_about_hunger.html)
•Texas is the most food insecure state in the nation. (www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/err11/)
•Texas ranks 48 out of 50 in income equality (50 being the most unequal) and 30 percent of Texas' workers earn poverty-level wages (www.nccp.org)
•150,000 South Texans needed emergency food supplies at some point in 2005 (Ron Wilson, "Food bank survey puts a face on hunger in S.A., E-N, 2/24/06, p. 3B)
•54,000 citizens had to choose between food and medicine (Wilson)
•A study found that "hunger is a central element in the cylce of poverty that includes inadequate health care, lower educational achievement, fewer employment opportunities and poor quality housing." (Wilson)
•The gap between the richest and the poorest in Texas is the second largest, after New York. (Tracy Idell Hamilton, "In income, Texans live in a state of disparity," E-N, 1/27/06, p. 1A)
•The poorest 20 percent earn $25,000 or less, and a third of those (32,000 families) earn less than $10,000. (Hamilton)

By the way, read "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt if you want to understand what it's like to go to bed hungry at night. It's a powerful book.

We headed down Interstate 35 toward Austin and took 410 to W.W. White Road. The San Antonio Food Bank is located at 4311 Director at Grubb (off of W.W. White). Blake Bishop, the Food Bank's Volunteer Coordinator, greeted us at the front door, and he took us inside to a meeting room. Blake is a gifted volunteer coordinator and teacher, and it's obvious that he loves what he does. He told us that the Food Bank serves approximately 25,000 people per week in a 16-county region. They serve kids, seniors, and families in need. The Food Bank is also actively recruiting citizens who qualify to sign up for food stamps. Because the application is long, in-depth, and intrusive (requires a thumb print)...and since it can be a bear to fill out for those with literacy issues, the Food Bank facilitates its completion.

I was impressed to learn that the Food Bank, a 501c organization, spends only 2 cents of every dollar donated on administrative costs. Most reputable non-profit organizations aim for 15 cents of every dollar spent on administration, so the Food Bank is definitely getting a bigger bang on its donated bucks. I also found it interesting that the Food Bank prefers monetary donations over canned good donations. The reason? They can buy more with your donation than you can. I told the students that the same goes for Elf Louise. My daughter's Brownie troop wrapped presents, and we learned that monetary donations are best. We pay retail prices, but Elf Louise can buy twice (or more!) as many gifts wholesale with the same amount of money. Blake explained that the employees at the Food Bank aren't rich, but that they're "rich in heart".

The recent letter carriers' food drive on May 13 raked in 250,000 pounds of food. (Annually, the San Antonio Food Bank takes in 27 million pounds of food and distributes 25 million pounds.) So, our job was to sort through the items the letter carriers collected and make 50- to 65-pound boxes of food that could feed a family of four for a week. (The Food Bank keeps a database of agencies that provide help. When an individual or family calls in, they are asked for their zip code and they are directed to the nearest center.) Blake said protein is in short supply, and he said that the Food Bank has a list of their nine most-needed items on their website: http://www.safoodbank.org/most_needed_items.html (Remember, though, money is best. They can then buy what they need.)

The first step was to make sure that the item had a label on it. Then, you put your thumbs on each side of the can to see if it pops. If it does, you toss it. (Botulism isn't something we want to give people!) Finally, you place the cans in a stout box that once housed bananas. It was fun deciding what to put in. How many cans of tomato sauce? How about tuna? (Is it chicken?) What about cake mix and icing? I tried to make sure the boxes I filled had a nice range of items: protein, vegetables, fruit, and pasta/rice. I asked Blake if the Food Bank does any educational fliers to include with the boxes of food, like "Here's how to make a healthy meal using the new food pyramid." He said they do some of that, but they could do more. He noted earlier that San Antonio is known for its high rate of obesity, heart disease and diabetes. I think it's a good idea to educate citizens on how to eat right every chance we get. (I have my students sign up for a Nutrition course to fulfill one of their science graduation requirements.) I also mentioned that some congressman got into trouble for saying that America was the only country he knew where poor people are fat. Blake said it's because poor people are not making good nutritional choices. They're going for the quick fix. Belly fillers (carbs) that aren't nutritious.

I enjoyed seeing our students pitch in and help. By the end, we looked like we were old pros. I think that many of us will go back to give more of our time to help sort and pack. I also thought it was interesting to work near inmates from the Dominguez Prison. Interesting, but also a little creepy. It made me wonder why they were in prison. It also made me happy that they were able to get out and contribute to the greater good of society. Blake said that working at the Food Bank gave the inmates dignity and marketable job skills. I also think it gives them positive role models. Choices they made in their lives were obviously poor ones. Maybe their experience at the Food Bank will inspire them to make better choices in the future? I hope so. Palo Alto College actually offers college courses at the prison. I've never thought about teaching there, mainly because I'm a woman and it's an all-male facility, but maybe I'll reconsider.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed our time at the San Antonio Food Bank. I was touched by the visible generosity of the citizens of San Antonio and the surrounding region. A quarter of a million pounds of food is a lot of love.