Food For People Inc., The Food Bank for Humboldt County

Senior Brown Bag Program

The Senior Brown Bag program has been in operation since 1987, and currently provides a bag of groceries for roughly 500 low-income senior households (700 individuals) each month. Volunteer drivers deliver bags to those who are unable to pick up their own food.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the program, participants must be at least 60 years old and low-income. Income guidelines reflect SSI criteria: An individual or couple may receive up to 125% of the amount Social Security provides each year to a senior who is blind or disabled.

Effective January 2007, the upper income limits are:
1 person: $901 per month 2 people: $1699 per month

Participants are asked to make a voluntary donation of $6 to $10 each year. No one is denied service, or provided with less food, if they are unable to donate to the program.

An application form may be obtained by calling Tyler Smith 445-3166 x 303.

What’s In A Brown Bag?

Food items in a Brown Bag include donated foods, purchased foods, and government surplus commodity items. Each bag normally contains 12 to 20 items, including bread, fresh produce, a protein food, and staple items.

During the summer months, the Food Bank often receives large quantities of beautiful, fresh produce from local farmers, which is included in the Brown Bags. At other times, we may receive donated produce from the Central Valley, or purchase cases of produce wholesale.

The protein food may be meat, fish, beans, cheese or yogurt. Staples typically include oatmeal, dry beans, macaroni, and/or rice.

Additional items that we include when they are available include cookies, chips, salad dressings, and other non-essential but enjoyable foods.

Brown Bags also usually include a short newsletter which contains recipes using some of the foods available that month, information on nutrition or services available to Brown Bag participants, or news about legislative matters that may affect seniors.

Volunteers: The Backbone of the Program

We encourage participants to volunteer time to help run the program. Volunteers help bag the food at the distribution sites, deliver food to homebound recipients, and serve as receptionists. They are also involved in such exciting tasks as sorting broken from unbroken eggs and putting them into six-packs, and bagging frozen fresh fillets.

Our dedicated volunteers donate a combined total of over 100 hours each month. They are a vital, integral part of the Brown Bag program.

Funding

This program is made possible by funds from the State Department of Aging, which are administered by the Area 1 Agency on Aging, a generous grant from the Bertha Russ Lytel Foundation, and contributions from participants and volunteers. Additional grants from the Redwood Coast Music Festivals, the Senior Citizens Foundation of Humboldt County and the Area Agency on Aging allow us to purchase food and equipment.

Distribution Sites

We currently have over 700 seniors enrolled in the Brown Bag program at ten sites throughout Humboldt County. We encourage recipients to come to their distribution site to pick up their bags, but when people are unable to do so, volunteer drivers deliver their food to them.

Our monthly distribution schedule:

Arcata
First United Methodist Church
1761 11th Street
Fourth Tuesday of each month, 12:30 - 1:00

Blue Lake
All bags currently delivered
Fourth Tuesday of each month 1:00 - 2:00 pm

Bridgeville
First Thursday

Eureka
Eureka Food Bank
First Thursday of each month, 11:00 am - 2:00
Service provided at other times when necessary.

Fortuna
First United Methodist Church
922 N Street
Second Tuesday of each month, 1:00 - 1:30 pm

Hoopa
Senior Nutrition/Lunch Site
Loop Road
Fourth Tuesday of each month, 2:00 pm

Manila
Manila Community Center
1611 Peninsula Drive
Fourth Tuesday of each month, 11:45 - 12:00

McKinleyville
Grace Good Shepherd Church
1450 Hiller Rd.
Third Thursday of each month, 11:00 - 1:00

Orick
Orick Community Center
Hwy 101
Third Tuesday of each month, 10:30 - 11:00 am

Orleans
Fourth Tuesday

Redway
Healy Senior Center
456 Briceland Rd.
Second Thursday of each month, 12:30 pm

Rio Dell
First Church of Christ
325 Second Ave.
Second Thursday of each month, 1:00 - 2:15

Silvercrest (Eureka)
First Wednesday Brown Bag
Third Friday USDA & CSFP

Trinidad
Trinidad Town Hall
Third Tuesday of each month, 12:00 noon - 12:30 pm

Weitchpec
Third Wednesday

Some facts about the Brown Bag Program:

Here in Humboldt County, the Senior Brown Bag Program receives about $24,000 in state funds each year. Food for People supplements this with grant monies and donations.

Statewide, the Brown Bag Program costs tax payers $1,100,000 each year. In 1999, the return on these funds was $35:1. This means that $38,500,000 in goods and services were provided to low-income seniors throughout California at a cost of $1,100,000.

Locally, we are currently providing Brown Bags for 700 seniors in 500 households. Some of these seniors are also raising grandchildren.

At a conservative weight of 15 pounds per Brown Bag, each household received 180 pounds of food a year - 90,000 pounds total. At a value of $1.50/pound, that's $135,000 worth of food we were able to provide for $24,000 of state funds.

Each month an average of 70 volunteers help with the program, and collectively donate 190 hours of service. At $8/hour, that's $18,240 of donated labor in the course of a year.

Total return on investment in Humboldt County for the $24,000 state Senior Brown Bag Program funds: $152,330.