Regional Brown Bag Program in need of community support
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

MICHELLE KNIGHT/Acorn Newspapers FOOD FOR ALL- Lance Ferguson, left, product developer for FOOD Share, talks to Michael Maurycy at the Ventura County Government Center last week about FOOD Share's need for more canned goods for its Brown Bag Program. The program delivers food to about 1,700 lowincome seniors each week in cities throughout Ventura County. Maurycy, a Ventura resident and coach for Ventura High's junior varsity football team, asks about the possibility of the team supporting a FOOD Share canned food drive.

With money donations down and the number of seniors in need on the rise, FOOD Share is taking a more assertive approach to collecting canned goods.

The county's regional food bank needs more nonperishable food items for its Brown Bag Program, which feeds nearly 1,700 low-income seniors each week throughout Ventura County.

In the past, FOOD Share has held food drives on a limited basis- during the holidays, in April via mail carriers and sporadically with a few businesses.

"We're really stepping up, and I think the community will notice," said FOOD Share's Lance Ferguson. "We have to because . . . baby boomers are retiring. We just can't meet the need."

Ferguson used to run FOOD Share's senior nutrition program but recently accepted the new position of product developer. His duties include beefing up FOOD Share's canned food donations by developing longlasting community partnerships.

Because fewer nonperishable goods are coming into the Oxnard-based nonprofit, less and less is going out in the bags seniors get once a week, Ferguson said.

Gloria Gralow, volunteer Brown Bag coordinator at the Simi Valley Senior Center, said that for about a year the sacks have come with only three or four items.

"Which makes it rather difficult" on the seniors, she said.

Peggy Rothschild, supervisor of the Moorpark Active Adult Center, formerly the Moorpark Senior Center, said the bags have fewer protein items and the amount and types of food seem to wax and wane with the seasons. That makes it difficult for seniors to have a well-rounded meal all year, she said.

"Yes, there have been comments" from seniors, Rothschild said. "But I know the people on it definitely appreciate it and want to be on it. . . . They don't want it to go away."

To keep the bags well stocked, Ferguson plans to enlist help from universities and schools districts, historically generous supporters of canned food drives, to develop a yearround schedule so that at any given time at least one Ventura County school is holding a food drive.

To raise awareness and donations for money and canned goods, FOOD Share has set out large, yellow donation bins at public places in Camarillo, Moorpark, Simi Valley and other locations throughout the county this month.

Last week, Ferguson manned an information table at the Ventura County Government Center to introduce the public to the yellow donation barrels. A volunteer will staff the table, located in the Hall of Administration, through the rest of the month to answer questions.

"This is an easy way to help without helping," said Laura Macias, who works in the county's building and safety department at the government center.

"I always want to help and participate, but it's hard," added Macias, who has a 4-month old son. "There's no time for me to help."

Anyone wanting to donate money to the Brown Bag Program- every dollar FOOD Share spends buys $18 worth of canned and nonperishable food items, Ferguson said- can do so online, at www.foodshare.com, or can mail a check to FOOD Share, 4156 Southbank Road., Oxnard, CA 93036.

The Brown Bag Program costs more than $300,000 a year to run, with the lion's share of expenses falling to FOOD Share. The state contributes only about $22,000 a year to help offset costs.

For more information about FOOD Share's Brown Bag Program and for locations of its 32 delivery sites, call Christina Forino at (805) 983-7100, ext. 133.