Rep. Wolf Stresses Food Banks' Need

2-Day Tour Includes Stop in Leesburg

By Jennifer Buske

Thursday, March 5, 2009

U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) visited Loudoun Interfaith Relief in Leesburg and the nonprofit organization SERVE in Manassas last week as part of a four-stop tour aimed at combating hunger in Virginia's 10th Congressional District.

A longtime advocate for the hungry, Wolf said he was traveling the region to raise awareness about the needs of food banks. An unstable economy, he said, has put a strain on the organizations as donations dwindle and the need for help rises.

"Early last year, I started seeing the issue," Wolf said Friday to about two dozen people outside SERVE's building. "While the region's food banks typically thrive at Thanksgiving and Christmas, they are struggling [now] and need help."

Wolf, who also stopped at food banks in Winchester and Fairfax County as part of his two-day tour, said he became involved in the issue of hunger after returning from a 1984 trip to Ethiopia.

"I was there during the famine," he said, "and when I returned, I decided I wanted to do something here to fight hunger."

In 1993, Wolf worked with then-Rep. Tony P. Hall (D-Ohio) and the late Rep. Bill Emerson (R-Mo.) to start the Congressional Hunger Center, a nonprofit, anti-hunger leadership training organization.

More recently, Wolf said, he has hosted meetings with district food banks and pantries, trying to pinpoint their greatest needs and raise awareness in communities.

"People are very generous," Wolf said, "but they have to know the need is there, and that is what I am trying to do; I'm trying to make people aware" of what is happening.

This week, Wolf said, he plans to take another step toward fighting hunger by introducing legislation in the House of Representatives that would reduce food waste in schools.

The bill would amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and require schools participating in the school lunch program to donate excess food to food banks.

"I believe this legislation will cut through the red tape and ensure that excess food is used to feed the hungry, not fill the school's dumpster," he said.

Wolf said the legislation, if approved, would aid food banks desperately seeking food and monetary donations to stay afloat. Client visits to food banks are up more than 30 percent compared with last year, he said. This, he said, can be attributed not only to the volatile economy but also to grocery prices, which have increased 5.1 percent during the past year.

Officials at Loudoun Interfaith said their food pantry served more than 40,000 people last year and has served about 31,000 this year.

Wolf wrote a letter last month to Loudoun County school officials calling on each school to hold a canned food drive during the spring semester.

"Many schools in Loudoun have responded and will conduct spring food drives, but we challenge all schools to respond," said Bonnie Inman, executive director of Loudoun Interfaith Relief. She said among the items needed most are juice, canned fruit and cereal.

Cheri Villa, president of SERVE, or Securing Emergency Resources Through Volunteer Efforts, said that since about August, the number of people seeking assistance each month has increased 35 percent. Villa said about 120 people a day seeking space in the 60-bed shelter, food or other assistance. Donations, however, are dwindling, and the group is desperate for money.

"The economy has put unprecedented strain on our organization," she said, noting that it takes $116,000 a month to keep the facility open. "I work each day with donors, and they are going through their own crisis, which makes it difficult to support other causes. Now is the time we must act. . . . These are our neighbors and friends seeking help."

Rob Sturm, SERVE chairman, said the organization was hit hard by the collapse of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which as donors covered almost 20 percent of SERVE's roughly $1.6 million budget.

Tagged: food, Loudoun Interfaith Relief, State news, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf

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