Dan Taivalkoski and empty Food Bank shelf.
Unemployment in Racine is almost 10 percent.
A gallon of gas costs $3.
One day this winter, when it gets really cold, we'll look back wistfully at today's energy prices. (On Tuesday, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin will hold hearings in Madison on We Energies' "request" to raise the price of electricity by 7.5 percent this year, and again next year; and natural gas prices by 4.2 percent.)
But this isn't a whine. Instead, it's a story about someone who's doing something about those problems. His name is Dan Taivalkoski, and he runs the Racine County Food Bank.
Dan and his few employees feed between 1,800 and 2,000 families every month. Not completely; just for a few days. It's not a huge bag of groceries that the Food Bank provides, and there's just one pound of hamburger among the canned vegetables, fruit, spaghetti, cereal and the like.
But for those who need it, a fast-growing number, alas, it's what's for dinner, and thank you very much!
It's designed as an emergency food source, "for three to five days; closer to three," Taivalkoski says. "It's there to get people over the hump -- but just once per month."
Seven years ago, the food bank served fewer than 1,000 familes a month. But every year the number of needy in Racine County has grown. Last year, 1,500 a month; this year between 1,800 and 2,000. Furthermore, the size of these families is growing: more children's mouths to feed.
Who are these people otherwise going hungry? "A lot of the people we help are the working poor," Taivalkoski says. "Minimum wage is not a living wage. Many people are just one paycheck away from being homeless."
Actually, the Food Bank doesn't directly deliver food to the needy; that job is handled by 17 food pantries located throughout the county, and four shelters and seven community meal sites. Until recently, the Food Bank supplied 50 percent of the food distributed by the pantries, which also receive USDA-supplied commodities. (You know, those blocks of cheese and bags of dried cherries purchased to prop up the prices farmers receive).
"But around June, we looked around and the checkbook looked good, the shelves were stocked. And so in July we decided to distribute 60 percent of what the pantries need. And in August we bumped it up to 70 percent.
"We're trying to maintain 70 percent," Taivalkoski said, "but unless we have a very good food drive, and donations hold up through the holidays, we may have to scale back to below 50 percent." What the Food Bank and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) run by the Community Action Agency don't supply, the food pantries have to raise themselves.
"Our goal would be to take all the burden off the food pantries, but the need continues to out-pace our ability to fund- and food-raise."
Things you didn't know:
-- Before taking this job three years ago, Taivalkoski ran the Beacon Tavern and Grill, on Douglas Avenue, for 15 years. ("That was also a non-profit," he jokes.")
-- Before succeeding Tom Berger, longtime director of the Food Bank, Taivalkoski was chairman of the annual Thoughts for Food fund- and food-raiser, which, since beginning in 1993 at George's Tavern, has raised $235,000 and more than 60,000 pounds of food.
-- Most of the financial cost of running the Food Bank comes from the Racine County United Way, which provides more than $80,000 a year; FEMA provides another $35,000.
-- The community's most successful drive is conducted by postal carriers in May; this year they brought in 80,000 pounds of food. Boy Scouts conduct another successful food drive. But smaller events also help: UW-Parkside's Haunted House last week produced 389 pounds of food; on Make-a-Difference Day, Taivalkoski's neighbors raised 600 pounds.
-- In 2004, the Food Bank distributed 159,231 pounds of food.
-- In 2005, it was 328,691 pounds.
-- In 2006, 486,152 pounds
-- By the time 2007 ends, the Food Bank will have distributed 600,000 pounds of food.
-- The Salvation Army in Racine verifies eligibility; the cutoff is an income below 185% of poverty level, which translates to $18,000 income for one person; $24,000 for two; and so on.
-- Finally, if you need help of any sort, just dial 211 in Racine, for human services information and referral, supportive listening and crisis intervention, a program of the Racine County Human Services Department, Safe Haven and the United Way of Racine County.
* Old Southern saying. A longer version goes like this: ""We are not interested in pie in the sky by and by, we want chicken in the kitchen tonight. I want ham where I am today."
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