thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

How do you explain that hurting families in Blount County are struggling to put food on the table and convince passersby to generously donate, all in 10 seconds or less?

That's the mission of the Community Food Connection of Blount County this weekend as they set up outside the Food City on West Broadway in Maryville.

For the past several weeks, the band of volunteers has been moving its portable food bin from grocery store to grocery store, asking customers entering the store to shop for others who are having a hard time getting by in this dismal economy.

"We'll be handing out 3,000 fliers or somewhere close to it," said Larry Ladd, director of special projects for the Community Food Connection. "We've got a few seconds to help them understand what we're doing."

Last month, this largest food pantry in Blount County served 4,000 people, a marked increase over previous months and also last year. So during this 36-hour blitz campaign which started Friday, Ladd and 30 or so other volunteers will be at the front doors asking for generosity, loading up the canned goods and re-stocking some empty shelves.

A public presence

This is the third weekend for the effort, and last one for 2008, said Ladd. But food pantry officials will be meeting with local grocery store managers to choose dates to start again early next year.

Food City, Food Lion, Walmart and Kroger have all agreed to allow this food ministry to solicit outside their doors.

Lisa Blackwood, president of the Community Food Connection, said she stopped by the pantry on a recent Monday and 22 new families had come in for help.

She said as many as 150 families come through the doors in a four-hour period.

The pantry, which is located at 1402 E. Broadway in Maryville, is open three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Having been a part of the pantry since 1993, Blackwood can give a firsthand account of how much the need has grown.

"Before we got to this place of having this many people in a day, we were averaging 1,200 to 1,500 pounds of food that goes out in a day," she said. Now that has doubled. You can see how a 5,000 pound food drive doesn't last that long."

One month over the summer, Blackwood said they purchased $9,000 worth of food, which just about wiped out their monetary donations. "That is why we are doing this," she said.

Years add up

The pantry opened in 1991 in Alcoa in the old Bassel school building. Today, they are housed in a rented 1,800-square-foot building they are outgrowing. The board consists of 12 community members, and the organization is entirely run by volunteers.

"And it's important to know that we serve only Blount County, 100 percent," Ladd said.

Frank Rutherford, another volunteer, said many times people who were helped by the pantry at one point come back to give back. One lady bought five cases of food to donate, he said, because she was so grateful for the food she had received in her time of need.

And food drives like this one also spawn other smaller drives, Blackwood said. Blount Memorial and Ruby Tuesday have conducted their own, as have some chiropractors in town.

Many of us are isolated from the day-to-day struggles families face because of layoffs, low-paying jobs, health crises or other unfortunate circumstances. Local agencies have estimated there are 30 families living in their cars right here in Blount County. There are hundreds of families barely hanging on.

Collaborative effort

It takes several agencies banding together to put a dent in the problem. Blackwood said most every charity organization she has talked with is overwhelmed right now. But she and others know this is a caring community. A recent Trick or Cans event brought in about 10,000 cans of food for this pantry.

"There are people who are working on a collaborative effort to make sure we take care of as many as possible," Blackwood said.

Ladd, Blackwood, Rutherford and other volunteers are counting on that nurturing spirit to get the Food Connection through these lean months.

"We are only about five to seven days ahead," Ladd said. "Whatever food we have at the beginning of the week is gone at the end."