Canned goods or food are sold on secondary market

Tag : Canned Food

The high price of food has sparked a secondary market where smashed canned goods or food that's about to expire are sold instead ofdonated to the food banks; dollar donations are shrinking; the costof gas makes distribution more difficult; and government surplusesof farm products are gone.
''In 17 years, I have never seen the shortage of food we are seeingtoday,'' noted Patricia Robbins, founder of Farm Share inHomestead. ``While we are not turning people away, each person getsless food.''
Providing mostly produce to over 200 agencies in South Florida,Farm Share distributed 14.8 million pounds during 2007-08, whichended in June. That's 33 percent less than in 2005-06. In thatperiod, state funding dropped by 50 percent, to $200,000 annually.
Every Saturday for the past two years, Amparo Valencia, a singlemother of two, goes to the Amor y Fe Church in West Miami wherethere is a pantry. She used to leave with several bags but lastweek left with only one.
''Now you go, and if there is one thing there isn't another,'' saidValencia, 43, who left Colombia thinking she wouldn't go hungry inMiami.
SO MUCH MISERY
It is absurd that in South Florida -- where millions of dollars arespent worldwide to promote a cosmopolitan image, where we gloatthat we have the ZIP Code with the nation's largest concentrationof wealth, where we find money for performing art centers and otherextravagant capital projects -- there is so much misery.
There are no exact figures, but Daily Bread, the region's largestfood bank, supplies 800 agencies with more than 200,000 clientsfrom West Palm Beach to the Keys, according to associate directorRobert Peters. Based on Census data, the food bank estimates thatthere are 800,000 people in need among 5.6 million in fourcounties.
Productivity declines when there is hunger, because people stopshowing up at work. In contrast with places such as Africa, in theUnited States hungry people aren't out on the streets if they canhelp it.
Congress recently passed the farm bill that earmarks $140 millionfor the food stamp program and to the states, depending on theirpoverty and unemployment indexes. Undocumented immigrants aren'tfactored in, so Florida will get less money than it should.
`GET INVOLVED'
Gloria Van Treese, head of the Florida Department of Agriculture'sBureau of Food Distribution, noted that ``unless local communitiesget involved, food banks won't be able to help the growing numberof families.''
There are simple ways to help: Volunteer so relief agencies cansave on wages; donate money to help cover fuel costs; organize fooddrives at churches and synagogues, community centers and schools;push local governments to become more proactive. . .
''Hopefully, those who have will remember those of us who are inneed,'' said Valencia. ``We lack everything.''