Good Samaritan, ET Food Bank Partner to Provide Food to Seniors

By Cristin Ross, Jacksonville Daily Progress, Texas

Jun. 25–Editor’s note: This is the fourth article in a week-long series looking at how local residents and civic organizations are making sure Cherokee County citizens get enough to eat as food prices rise to record highs.

Sure, nobody wants to see the children go hungry, but what about adults who may not be able to make ends meet on what retirement, pensions and government subsidies they might be getting?

Those people are in luck because the Good Samaritan in Rusk makes sure retirees are getting something nutritious, with the help of the East Texas Food Bank and donations from caring community members.

“We’re definitely seeing an increase in clients,” Good Samaritan chair Kay Epperson said. “We’re probably increasing 30 cases a month.”

The Good Samaritan provides food and other items to low-income families or households earning $1,500 or less a month.

“Most of who we serve are 55 years old or older,” Epperson said. “And we couldn’t do it without the support of our community who is always donating and helping out where they can.”

Epperson said several of Rusk’s civic organizations continue to make the Good Samaritan a beneficiary of their efforts by holding food drives and collecting donations of items and funds.

Rusk Post Office’s annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive collected 1,565 pounds of goods this year for Good Samaritan.

“That’s about 100 pounds less than last year, but that’s not too bad considering the times,” Rusk Post Master Ron Williams said.

Good Samaritan is also able to continue to provide so much to its clients, in the way of food, because of the East Texas Food Bank.

According to the food bank’s Web site, more than 200 East Texas agencies in 26 counties receive food from the East Texas Food Bank warehouse in Tyler.

“These agencies provide assistance in an emergency in the form of bags of groceries to take home or hot meals served in a soup kitchen or group home,” the Web site states. “Others provide meals to their clients as part of a residential treatment program.”

The food bank provides a weekly shopping list of available products — from which Good Samaritan officials order food for its clients — then delivers the agency’s order to them. The whole operation costs Good Samaritan pennies each week.

“Member agencies pay a handling fee of 1 cent to 16 cents per pound for some of the food they receive,” the food bank’s Web site states. “The shared maintenance fee helps defray the East Texas Food Bank cost to transport the food and store it in freezers and coolers.”

Epperson said while the fee is small, she looks for it to increase in the near future.

“I’ll be surprised if they don’t have to go up because of fuel prices,” she said.

East Texas Food Bank is able to provide its food, thanks, once again to the caring community.

Donations from national, regional and local food manufacturers, brokers, wholesalers and retailers include overproduced or discontinued items, frozen foods, dairy products, mislabeled goods, dented cans, day-old breads and pastries and odd-sized produce. Local farmers and gardeners also provide fresh produce.

The food bank also benefits from various food drives and monetary donation from community organizations, individuals and businesses.

“Every $1 you give helps us deliver food for eight meals to hungry people through our network of partner agencies,” East Texas Food Bank Executive Director Robert Bush said in a letter sent in response to donations.

The East Texas Food Bank is also a member of America’s Second Harvest — The Nation’s Food Bank Network.

This year marks the East Texas Food Bank’s 20th anniversary. In 1988, the food bank distributed more than 234,000 meals to people in need. In 2007, the bank distributed more than 10 million meals.

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