Sept. 28--To a group of more than 75 volunteers and donors gathered Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Rep. Bob Goodlatte issued a call to action.
He urged those present to team up with other food banks across the state and country to help safeguard the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which helps supply food banks.
As budgetary and deficit woes mount, small programs such as EFAP are in greatest danger of being underfunded or cut altogether, said the Republican, who represents the Valley.
"We can't let it happen," he said. "We need you to speak up."
Contrasting it to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, the 6th District congressman praised EFAP and the food banks that use it as the "most efficient way to deliver food in the United States."
"I have great pride in supporting this program because I think this is a real grassroots, people helping people, program and that's what our society needs," he said. "Our problems are not going to be solved in Washington, D.C., but by people, and they need to be empowered to do it."
Goodlatte's words came after Blue Ridge Area Food Bank CEO Larry Zippin painted a worrisome picture of the organization's future.
The number of people in the 25-county region the agency serves is seeing a rise in the amount of people in need of assistance.
"This year, we will distribute 21 million pounds of food," Zippin said.
That figure has doubled in the past four years as the economic downturn has taken hold, he said.
One-fourth of that food is donated by the federal government, Zippin said.
Donations from the food bank's other largest supplier, food manufacturing companies, also are shrinking as the businesses improve efficiency and have less supply left over.
To combat the problem, the organization is working to identify more local donors, and it hopes to join the state's other seven regional food banks in leveraging buying power, Zippin said.
Both Zippin and Michael McKee, the food bank's chief planning and philanthropy officer, issued words of thanks to the agencies volunteers and donors.
"Without them, we wouldn't be able to accomplish much at all," he said.
Those two groups have helped the agency grow from distributing 500,000 pounds of food per year through about 30 agencies to 21 million pounds through more than 300 organizations.
"We're grateful we've been able to grow, but we're also nervous about the future," McKee said.
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