Real update from New Orleans

Rick here: Given the time of year and especially this holiday weekend, I thought it might be nice to provide some first hand on the ground news updates from New Orleans. We have an inside track there you know given that one of our members is located right in the city and has been serving as the emergency food provider there since the event hit over 18-months ago. Our member there is called Second Harvest of Greater New Orleans & Acadiana. We’ve actually had four members serving residents now on a regular basis including our members located in Baton Rouge, Theodore, AL and Beaumont, TX. America’s Second Harvest has provided more than $25M in food to these members to service unprecedented increases in food demand. Below is an update provided by Roger Hahn, Grant Writer for the food bank.

Roger: Things here in New Orleans and throughout the Louisiana Gulf Coast region just one-and-a-half years after Katrina’s landfall are probably both better and worse than the impression conveyed by the major news media. While large portions of metro New Orleans and parts of the westernmost coastal parishes remain pretty badly damaged, it seems clear that the spirit of most residents has begun to adjust to the blow that was dealt by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and is now firmly committed to rebuilding, however long it takes – and in the view of some professionals it could take anywhere from 10 to 15 years to fully restore the region.

Recent Census Bureau reports are pretty gloomy, too, reporting a five-percent drop in the state’s population between 2000 and 2006 (the largest since the internal U.S. migrations post-WWII) and a loss of 300,000 residents in greater New Orleans, reducing the metro population from 1.3 million to 1 million and lowering its national ranking from 38^th to 50^th. That having been said, we see nothing but increased need for emergency food supplies, a situation most food bankers will no doubt understand better than most – the population losses are mostly a reflection of social disruption, with commercial and nonprofit food-supply networks badly shredded.

Before Katrina, we distributed approximately 14.5 million pounds of food in a year; in just the six months after Katrina and Rita, with lots of help from A2H staffers, volunteers, the network, and suppliers, we distributed more than 40 million pounds of food. Our target this year is 25 million pounds and next year its 30 million pounds, but we’re estimating a real need for 40 million pounds year throughout the Gulf Coast region. Post-Katrina, we’ve opened a second warehouse operation in Lafayette and initiated a program to help rebuild our network of partner agencies (which digressed from 350 in number before the storms to fewer than 100 and is now back up to 150 and continuing to grow).

We’re also undertaking a comprehensive food-system survey across the region – it’s not just services and resources that are lacking down here right now, its information, too.

Oddly enough, in the midst of all this difficulty and even faced with a series of difficult challenges, it’s never seemed more important to do what we’re doing, and I think that feeling is shared by a lot of native and recent residents down here. There is among those who have remained are committed to living here and to sharing in the rebuilding of the region a general sense of commitment that seems more palpable than residents’ commitments to where they live in many other places, where conditions are not so challenging.

You could say it’s the best of times and the worst of times, but most of all it seems like an exciting time to be food banking at a time and in a place where it’s so badly needed.

RB: I asked Roger what was needed there at the food bank. He offered: “Absolutely food of any kind, especially fresh produce!” Interested parties may contact Ken Gravener, Procurement Manager at 504-729-2847 or email to kgravener@secondharvest.org naturally, financial donations are always needed and welcome. Please contact Terry Utterback at 504-729-2821 or email tutterback@secondharvest.org to make a donation of funds. You may contact Roger Hahn via email at RHahn@secondharvest.org or visit the food bank website at: http://www.no-hunger.org Rick Bella may be contacted at the National office at rbella@secondharvest.org or direct line: 312-641-6507.