Food bank need
Your recent article about the food banks in the area was interesting, if mildly misleading.
As a frequent volunteer in this area, I did a quick phone survey of our food banks. According to them, needs for food and other resources are predictable and cyclical. This time of the year, when local produce is plentiful and opportunities for farm work high, demand at the food banks is predictably lower. It will pick up as winter approaches. Needs for donation will accelerate at that time as well.
It is true that fresh produce, a much-valued commodity for those who rely upon canned items to make it through the winter, is much more available right now than later in the year. But this too is a cyclical and predictable situation.
In your article, the situation with food banks far and wide was quoted. One has to wonder why you did not look a bit closer to home? None of the Oregon food banks, physically close in geography and population mix to the Tri-Cities, were mentioned. It is unfortunate that your article could not see just a bit south, past the Columbia River, where you enjoy significant readership.
Tom Marks
Hermiston
This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Food bank need."