Published: August 22, 2008 10:15 pm      

Food shortage forces Red Cross closure on Monday

Murray agency needs donations

For the first time since Lori Rosen became director in 2002, the Murray County Red Cross will be closed on a weekday due to a shortage in the food bank. The agency will close on Monday but re-open on Tuesday after a delivery of food arrives.

“We’re seeing so many people who have never, ever asked for assistance before,” she said. “They’re so humbled to ask for what they perceive is a handout. But they don’t need to be embarrassed because this is what their neighbors have given to help them out.”

Contributions to the food bank have been so low that if the agency opened on Monday, it would be able to give away only a couple of bags of groceries and then have to turn people away. A delivery truck is scheduled to arrive Monday night so the staff can restock for Tuesday. Food bank hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each weekday.

Part of the problem, says Rosen, is that other charitable agencies in the county like churches are overwhelmed, and some food banks have shut down. She added that other organizations and churches are doing food drives to help keep Red Cross open, but even lately those have slowed.

“We’re definitely seeing more people than normal,” Rosen said, citing that the 400 people a month being served by the food bank has swelled to 600. “That’s been the trend for the last six months. It’s always heavier during the summer months with parents having to feed their children those meals they usually get at school. But when school started back, the demand didn’t fall off. More people are coming in than ever before.”

In a recent e-mail, coordinator Karen Edmondson of Murray County Family Connection implored attendees at an upcoming meeting to bring canned goods to donate to Red Cross.

“The cupboards are bare,” Edmondson shared with more than 100 recipients in the Family Connection collaborative. “Please help out this agency as much as possible.”

Rosen said she would definitely not turn canned goods away, but noted cash donations will go further.

“We do our shopping at Second Harvest in Chattanooga,” she explained. “You have to be a member agency to shop there, but we can get enormous value. And it’s all about value. If someone is going to spend $25 for groceries, we can get a lot more with it than that.”

She mentioned that the agency could get a case of cereal at the food distributorship for less than $2.

“If someone wants to make a donation to Red Cross to buy food, just write ‘food bank’ in the memo section,” she said. “If people still feel adamant about donating food, we’ll take it. But when our volunteers from the high school and elsewhere come to volunteer and fill up grocery bags, it’s a lot easier if they can do it from the bulk supplies we get at Second Harvest.”

Unlike Dalton, Rosen notes there are no soup kitchens in Murray County.

“These people are out of groceries and out of gas money,” she said. “Many times there’s no place they can get meals for their kids besides us.”

Donations may be mailed to Murray County Red Cross, P.O. Box 1301, Chatsworth, GA 30705.