One of Long Island’s biggest food banks is reporting a record-breaking year for food distributions. WSHU’s Desiree D’Iorio spoke with Island Harvest president and CEO Randi Shubin Dresner about what that means for food-insecure families going forward.
WSHU: There's been some reshuffling and turbulence, first with the Department of Government Efficiency and now with the tax and spending plan that just passed. Where does all that leave you and your ability to deliver the millions of pounds of food you deliver every year?
RSD: We just closed our fiscal year on June 30, and our unaudited numbers — we actually did record number distribution. We distributed 21.1 million pounds of food across Long Island, which is record-breaking for us. And we're on target to do about the same in this coming year, in spite of everything.
But there's a backstory to that that I need to explain. Island Harvest is an organization whose roots are embedded in food rescue. We were founded on the belief that we should be rescuing food from the community, from wholesalers, distributors, and surplus products. So, it's proven during times like this to be a good model because we are not dependent on USDA TFAP funding and support. A lot of the organizations that are dependent on them are really struggling right now.
This is our model: Let's say 35-40% of our product is purchased. The remainder is donated. I have a team of staff that continually works on stewarding relationships with food donors to ensure that we can keep those strong. We tend to use the same stewarding model we use with funders with our food donors. Staying in touch with them is just a really important part of the model.
Because of that, we have uncovered some new prospective food donations that are going to help us. We did lose about $4 million in funding from the federal government for other programs, and that funding would have been used to purchase food. So we're going back to our model to strengthen our food donations and try to fill in all of the holes in where we would have purchased food.
WSHU: It's concerning to me to hear you say you had a “record-breaking” year. What's your level of concern?
RSD: Listen, I've been in the nonprofit world for over 45 years professionally. I've been here at Island Harvest for over 24 years. I'm an optimist. I really am. But I've never been as concerned as I am now. I'm concerned for the whole nonprofit sector. There's a distrust and a misunderstanding about the power and the importance of this sector and what we can do and how we could support vulnerable neighbors. There are always going to be people who need help. That's just the way our society is built.
I give tours to elected officials here — it happens all the time — they'll come in and they're blown away by what we do, and I get the same two questions from almost every elected official. Not everyone, but almost. One is, “You're doing God's work.” And then the next question is, “But how many people are you giving food to that don't really need it?”
My answer to them is: “I don't think it's very many, because there are very few people who would stand in line for two hours for food if they really didn't need it.” There is fraud in every industry in our country — in insurance, in business, in retail. Fraud, waste and abuse. But this is not the sector to try to dive into and attack, because it's so minuscule.
WSHU: I'm sure you see this all the time at work: people want to help. What can your average Long Islander do?
RSD: I really appreciate the question, because I know that people want to help. They've always wanted to help, particularly when we go through a bad time. I've been through a lot of disasters and crises, and I know that that's when a lot of people stand up and say that they want to give back.
We have 15,000 people registered as volunteers with Island Harvest, and in any given week, we have 500 people doing something for us — whether it's distributing food, inputting data, collecting food at a food drive, boxing food in the warehouse, or delivering supplies for us, or loaning us professional skills, whatever it may be. We are robust. We have a lot of volunteers, and it's incredible, but volunteers have lives, and there are times when they can't be there, and so there are a lot of programs that we have where we struggle to find volunteers to help us deliver some of the food.
So that's one way: look into volunteering with Island Harvest. Secondly, funding is important because of all these cuts we're having. Like other organizations, Island Harvest has established an emergency relief fund so that we can find some funding to pick up the shortfall of what we're losing from these federal programs that we were dependent on. And so contributing money is another area.
Contributing food, or helping us find the resources for good, healthy, nutritious food, is another way to help. Some people have connections with wholesalers, distributors and retailers. Or, do a food drive for us and help bring in some of the food. It might not bring in millions of pounds of food, but every pound makes a difference.
WSHU: What can local government do to help? Our towns or county legislatures? State government?
RSD: While a lot of the funding cuts and the changes are happening at the federal level, our local elected officials and policymakers have a voice, too, and we need a collective voice. It can't just be us because it appears that we're complaining. It needs to be collective. And we need our local policymakers to be standing shoulder to shoulder with us and talking to our federal policymakers and let them know that the impact is real, and that maybe some of these decisions were made too quickly, and that we need to be rethinking them. That's really important.
The other part of it is, I mean I normally would say, “Well, maybe the local and state policymakers can help by finding funding for us.” But when you get funding cuts from the federal government, foundations, or wherever it may be, you could typically go to a different sector for support. We've already started to hear from the private sector, the public people, that they're uncertain about their own investments, and so because of that, there are not many of them making big decisions about contributing larger amounts or new amounts of funds to nonprofits, until they feel really comfortable.
So that's a problem because that's where we would normally turn. You heard me say that we set up an emergency relief fund, but if we can't ask our larger contributors for support, that's where we turn.
So clearly, we're asking everybody to help. Even at the lower levels, $10, $20, $50, whatever it may be. Everything's going to help.
Then, the next area is the state and local government. We would turn to them for help as well. But with the cuts to the federal funding and its impact on the state, we now know that the states are going to have to make some tough decisions and cut some things that were part of the budget, and that might be in the area of food insecurity or housing, medical, or mental health services. If you cut in any of those areas, it impacts food banks and food pantries, because food is the first thing people give up. You eat three meals a day, so you give up one or two meals, and if you give up one or two meals, you gotta turn somewhere else to get some food for your family, and so it's going to impact food banks.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
