by MIKE CAPUTO
One of those adjustments is a bill recently passed in Congress that encourages federal buildings to donate unused food to area soup kitchens, pantries and community agencies. The Federal Food Donation Act of 2007, which was introduced by Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, was passed unanimously in the Senate on May 24. It had been approved by the House in December.
Syd Mandelbaum, a Cedarhurst resident who founded Rock and Wrap It Up, said the legislation led the way for many measures yet to come. "It's like one shoe out of many that we are going to make drop in this country," said Mandelbaum, who lobbied and supported the bill. Its supporters hope state governments will follow suit.
"We are talking about hundreds and hundreds of harvesting potentials," Mandelbaum said. "If you are adding up the aggregate, it is literally billions and billions of meals going into the future."
Each morning, Mandelbaum and his volunteers pick up bags filled with food from Five Towns establishments and deliver them to the Five Towns Community Center in North Lawrence.
In turn, the community center offers food to senior citizens in the morning and children who take part in its after-school programs. Then, at the end of the day, the center invites people to take home the food that remains - bagels, pastries, slices of pizza.
The impoverished are not the only regulars in area food pantries and soup kitchens. A growing percentage of those asking for food may have one or even two jobs yet are still struggling to make ends meet. A survey conducted by Island Harvest in 2006 revealed that the average person that received food from one of its member community agencies was not homeless.
As a result, said Randi Dresner, president of Island Harvest, demand for food has always been high on Long Island, but the demographics have changed. "People who are middle-class people who are actually those giving to organizations like Island Harvest with money and food are now faced with having to ask for food, and it is a very difficult thing for them to do," Dresner said.
"It has become more of a reality for the community," she added. "We knew about it. We saw it coming."
Nonetheless, recent economic trends have made it difficult for organizations to keep pace. Retailers who regularly donate to the agencies are now cutting back on their own production, thus reducing their surpluses, Dresner explained. The skyrocketing price of fuel has also affected Island Harvest's ability to transport food to agencies.
For Island Harvest, fighting hunger goes beyond providing food. In addition to providing meals to the hungry, the organization has increased its educational endeavors through its Outreach and Education program. It helps provides guidance to low-income people on how to carefully manage food budgets while also maintaining good health, nutrition and well-being.
"Poverty is a terrible place to be, and when you learn about areas where you can improve your own life, it sort of helps pull you up," Dresner said.
Like Island Harvest, Rock and Wrap It Up has made an effort beyond providing meals. This year it piloted an "asset recovery" program in Barnard College, Columbia University and the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University. Rather than dispose of small refrigerators, microwaves and televisions when they graduate, college students donate the items to area agencies.
"We have a very simple mission: We live to increase assets to agencies that fight poverty," he said.
For more information on how to volunteer or donate, go to Rock and Wrap It Up's Web site, rockandwrapitup.org, or Island Harvest's, islandharvest.org.
