Donation fills shelves at northern Utah food bank

Intermountain Catholic

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Volunteers help unload 170 cases of apples and oranges that were part of a donation from Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp. to Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank in Ogden.IC photo/Marie Mischel

OGDEN — Three trucks rolled into Catholic Community Services’ Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank the morning of Dec. 15, carrying 17,331 pounds of food donated by Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp.

GSL’s donation was used to fill 1,800 holiday baskets that were distributed to the food bank’s clients over a three-day period that started Dec. 19.

This was the fourth year that GSL has provided the food bank with holiday meal fixings. CCS gives the company a wish list of items, which guarantees that the food bank will be able to have enough stuffing, cranberries, yams and other necessities for each basket, said Marcie Valdez, director of CCS Northern Utah.

Other items for the holiday baskets came from LDS Humanitarian Services, a turkey drive sponsored by United Way Northern Utah and the "Ogden Standard Examiner," and contributions from schools, businesses and individuals in the community, Valdez said.

The food bank doesn’t receive any federal funds, "so everything we do … is because of the generosity of somebody else, whether it is a food donation or a cash donation or a donation of volunteer hours," Valdez said.

GSL helped in this regard as well, not only arranging for delivery of the goods but also having about 35 of their employees and family members stacking the goods onto the food pantry shelves.

In November, food bank staff were worried about being able to provide holiday baskets because they were told that they wouldn’t receive the usual number of turkeys from Utah Food Bank. As a result, the food bank decided to limit to 1,200 the number of Christmas baskets it would distribute.

However, when the appeal for donations went out to the community, the food bank received 160,000 pounds of food, Valdez said, adding that she believes that’s the largest amount ever donated in one month. As a result, the food bank was able to give out 3,133 baskets in November – each food bank client received a regular monthly basket as well as a holiday basket.

The food bank also received enough donations that it increased the number of Christmas baskets to 1,800, bringing the total to be distributed this month to 3,800 baskets, Valdez said.

"That would wipe us out, to give out that much food," without the support of GSL and holiday food drives at local schools and businesses, she said.

The donations have meant that "this is the first time since last January that our shelves have been full," Valdez said. "We have struggled for the last 11 months to keep enough food coming to serve the number of people that we’re helping every month."

The food bank serves almost 2,000 families each month, compared to about 1,200 last year, Valdez said.

Because of the increase, GSL asked each of its top venders in northern Utah to donate $1,000 for the holiday baskets; 14 responded, said Sherry Tolman, GSL spokeswoman. The additional funds not only helped provide the food but also meant a few extras, such as diapers for young families and hygiene kits for elderly food bank clients.