Herkimer coalition unites to aid needy

Faced with a skyrocketing number of families going hungry on a continuing basis, the food pantries of Herkimer County were going bare. Collectively in 2001, they doled out nearly 300,000 meals -- a quarter-million more than in 1998.

Additionally, according to Lydia Sexton, coordinator of the emergency assistance program at Catholic Charities of Herkimer County, some pantries were open only once a week, some operated strictly on an on-call basis, and others could not serve enough food to last for more than three days. Some relied completely on local donations and were not connected to the services provided by the Food Bank of Central New York.

Into the breach

The result was the Herkimer County Hunger Coalition, which includes fraternal organizations like the Knights of Columbus and the Kiwanis, a Remington Arms employees' group known as Hands Across the Valley, community action groups, Catholic Charities, the Food Bank of Central New York, and two Catholic parishes: Ss. Anthony and Joseph, and St. Francis de Sales.

"The coalition started challenging one another, raising revenues and gathering resources -- volunteers and donations -- that enabled [Catholic Charities] to make changes in our emergency feeding program," Mrs. Sexton said.

The coalition's main goal is simple, said Mr. Lenarcic: "We make sure that food is always on the shelf" at Herkimer's food pantries. "No child, no adult, no senior citizen should be at hunger risk in Herkimer County."

Achievements

"The coalition educated people," said Mrs. Sexton. "They wrote editorials, became visible, let people know that the purpose of their mission was to stamp out hunger in Herkimer County. Everyone working together is the key -- working together so that people don't fall through the cracks."

According to Mr. Lenarcic, a "great working relationship" has emerged among organizations that had not previously been asked to link. Because of that collaboration, "there's no place in this county where a person who is in need of a pantry service cannot get it," he said.

More to do

To that end, current projects include funding an after-school snack program for a Catholic Charities children's tutorial, running a children's Christmas clothing program "to the tune of 300 to 400 kids," and giving families assistance with applying for Child Health Plus, New York State's health insurance program for children, and for food stamps.

Model for others

"We would really encourage other counties with severe hunger risk problems to use what we've done as a model," he said.

In Herkimer County, "when people are struggling, the one thing they know they can get is food," said Mrs. Sexton. "We can't solve all the problems, but at least the family can be fed."

(One of the coalition's initiatives is the "mobile pantry," which "is taking the pantry into the pockets of rural poverty," Ray Lenarcic said. He gave the example of Hornsville, where volunteers now deliver meals to needy families by pickup truck in lieu of a standing pantry. Similar plans are in the works for the towns of Ohio, Norway and Russia.)

(11-28-02) [[In-content Ad]]