Huntington Area Food Bank Story

Dave Traube

Huntington Area Food Bank

4/6/10

By definition, a non-profit organization is exactly what it says it is: a group that makes no profit but instead relies on outside help to survive financially. A tumbling economy weighs heavily on this kind of group.

The Huntington Area Food Bank has been serving the surrounding community for nearly 28 years, providing food and non-food necessities to those in need and, despite the struggling economy, has seen a slight increase in its total revenue over the past few years.

A federal 990 tax form helps to provide important information about an organization like the Food Bank by detailing the filing organization’s mission, programs and finances. According to the latest 990 form available from 2008, the Food Bank received $4,449,577 in donations and support that year, which was up from $3,917,131 in 2007 and from $3,296,207 in 2006. Brooke Ash, the Public/Agency Relations Coordinator at the Food Bank, said that the trend continued in 2009 – but came with a price.

“We actually did see a small increase in our monetary funds for 2009,” Ash said, “but the big concern now has been the large jump in the need that has happened.”

Need is precisely where the current economy has most impacted the Food Bank and so, while the actual number of assets has grown, the offsetting need almost makes the rise insignificant.

The Huntington Area Food Bank is only part of a larger network, however. It operates in conjunction with America’s Second Harvest, the largest hunger relief agency in the United States, so while the existence of the Food Bank is integral to feeding the area’s hungry, it is America’s Second Harvest that interacts face-to-face with the people being supplied assistance.

The rise in need, however, makes the picture perfect process appear to be cracked.

“Just in our area we’ve seen an increase of 6,000 people from this time last year,” Ash said. “Our totals have now risen from 85 to 90,000 people in the Tri-State Area that we serve.”

John Rickey, Executive Director for the Food Bank, echoes Ash’s comments. Rickey said that simply remaining pro-active in finding assistance is important in helping the process along.

“With this economic 'downturn', the demand for food has risen by 6% during the past year,” Rickey said. “Hunger is a serious issue but one that has a solution. We find that many people are willing to help give back when awareness is raised.”

Relying on support from the community, most people, including Ash, see a bright future for the Food Bank, despite the dim picture the economy sometimes paints for non-profits.

“We’ve become a staple in the community these past 28 years,” Ash said. “We rely on the support from the community and area businesses and they help with the need. We just have to let them know.”

Just letting those with the checkbooks know may not solve an underlying problem for the Food Bank, though. Board Member Stan Mills said he isn’t so sure a shake-up may not be headed the Food Bank’s way, to help ensure stability in the years to come.

“There may be some change headed for the Food Bank in the future,” Mills said. “We need to maintain and improve on what we already have established, and so we’ll have to do whatever we can in this down economy.”

As with many non-profits, The Huntington Area Food Bank acts as a middle man to get a good or service, in this case food, to struggling members of a community who rely on the assistance to survive. The importance of its future can be seen in part of its mission statement: “…provides food and commodities to other member agencies who distribute the items to the hungry in 17 counties in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.”

Rickey said that serving that many people is a challenge that the Food Bank has risen to meet for nearly 30 years – and doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

“We MUST remain pro-active in the communities we serve to not only provide as essential service to them,” Rickey said. “But to advocate, educate and create awareness of the hunger issues facing the Tri-State area.”

So with the enthusiasm of employees like Ash, and perhaps the hard realities of board members like Mills, the economy has made the Huntington Area Food Bank do what it has made many a business and non-profit alike do – take an internal look at the way things are run and perhaps, if needed, consider change for the better

And the more important the service provided, the more important that change may be.

Total Revenue and Yearly Increase for The Huntington Area Food Bank
Year	Total Revenue (rounded to the nearest million)	Yearly Increase in Revenue
2006	$3.3 million	N/A
2007	$3.92 million	$620,000
2008	$4.45 million	$530,000
SOURCE: 2006,07,08 990 Forms