By Tom Moore

"You see the need out there and it becomes more than a job. We feel it's our mission," said Alfredo Castillo, executive director of the Laredo Webb County Food Bank. The reality of that need is given concrete form in the amount of food distributed to local relief and charitable agencies in one month alone last year -- 649,000 pounds of food went out from the Food Bank in December 2001 to Bethany House, the Salvation Army, the local Boys and Girls Clubs, the Church of the Crossroads, Catholic Social Services, SCAN, Inc., and other agencies that the Food Bank supplies, and which in turn distribute that food to the many Laredoans who need it.
"It's been very exciting watching it grow from nothing to what it is today," said Ramon Ramirez, president of the Food Bank board. Ramirez has been a board member since its establishment in 1989.
The Food Bank's service area has grown considerably, especially in the last few months. Until October 2001, that area covered only Webb County. The service area has expanded and now consists of Webb with the addition of Valverde, Maverick, Kinney, and Dimmitt counties (Del Río, Eagle Pass, Bracketville, Carrizo Springs).
The resources of the Food Bank have grown to accommodate this change, recently receiving an 18-wheeler from America's Second Harvest (the country's largest hunger-fighting organization) through Ford Motor Company for deliveries, together with its three-ton cargo truck and a refrigerated truck, plus a van for bread products from H.E.B.
The grocery store chain has been a major source of commodities for the Food Bank since its beginning, donating about one million pounds of food a year. "To this day they're still one of our biggest supporters," said Ramirez. "If it wasn't for them we wouldn't be here."
H.E.B. supports 19 Food Banks across the state. The company also contributes through the Check Out Hunger program, in which customers can donate one to three dollars to the Food Bank with coupons purchased at the cash registers.
Food donations include mainly dented cans or items nearing their sell-by or best-used-by dates. That date is not the same as an expiration date, emphasized Castillo, pointing out that most products have about a year of shelf life past their sell-by or best-used-by dates.
Surplus not picked up at individual H.E.B. stores is shipped to a central location, the Choice Reclamation Center in San Antonio. Food is loaded into 18-wheelers there and delivered to the Food Banks. H.E.B. pays the freight charges.
The Food Bank is a member of America's Second Harvest. Over 200 food banks belong to America's Second Harvest, which contacts companies such as Kraft and Kellogg's for donations and makes their products available to the food banks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is another major resource for the Food Bank, which is the USDA contractor in Webb County. Through the new Commodities Surplus Food Program, the USDA supplies such commodities as rice, beans, green beans, peas, dried figs, cranberries, cherries, frozen blueberries, anything of a surplus nature, said Castillo. The USDA donated 1.7 million pounds of food to America's Second Harvest in 2001.
Food is distributed to the agencies on a first-in first-out basis. "We try not to keep stuff for too long," said Castillo.
Distribution to those agencies is not the only form of involvement for the Food Bank. Community outreach is crucial to ensure that the mission of the Food Bank continues, said Castillo. "We have a board of directors who are very conscious of this," he said. "They saw a need in the colonias, for instance. There was no service for these people, no direct food distribution. That was one of the first projects that we embarked on." A state grant has enabled the Food Bank to distribute bags of food to the colonias since August 1999.
"After that program, we started thinking about hungry kids, kids who go to bed hungry," said Castillo.
Marking its second year of service this April 2, the H.E.B. Hugs and Laughter Kids Café is an after school program that feeds between 350 to 450 children at seven sites throughout Laredo. "We felt we needed to do an outreach, and this is one of ours," Castillo said. "We needed to make it happen, so we're working on that."
Located at Laredo Housing Authority centers such as Springfield Acres and Meadow Acres and operating from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, the Kids Cafés are available to all Laredo children, regardless of area of residence. There is no income requirement.
There have been requests for more sites, Castillo said, but "it's a matter of financing," he noted, "and the logistics of where the food can be prepared and how it can be delivered." For more information on the Kids Café, contact the Food Bank at 726-3120.
A senior citizens food distribution program has met with less success. "We didn't get funding," said Castillo. "We're still looking at getting partial funding, but it's not up to what we were expecting. We would need community support."
"We may start pushing that more, since we may not be able to get the full grant," Ramirez said. "I think we'll find a way to get the community working with us, so that we can get this program started."
The Food Bank board is considering raising community awareness for the senior citizens program through publicity campaigns such as mail-outs, Ramirez said.
"I think the public needs to be made aware of the situation," said Castillo.
Another project in the works is a "buy one, get one free" coupon book made in cooperation with local merchants and restaurants. Sold for $20 each, the coupon books will be available from participating businesses, several of the non-profit agencies, United High School Band members, and the Food Bank. The proceeds would help fund the Kids Café and senior citizens program.
Despite the minor setbacks, Castillo and Ramirez are optimistic about the Food Bank's work.
"We're very fortunate that we have an excellent working board," said Ramirez. "That's one of the reasons that I think we have succeeded. We have an excellent executive director; Mr. Castillo has done an outstanding job. We wouldn't have a lot of programs if it wasn't for him. And of course the staff. We have some people who have been here since the inception of the Food Bank."
This year seven million pounds of food will be distributed, said Castillo, though food is sometimes not the only product distributed by the Food Bank.
In December, the Food Bank received a donation of 4,900 blankets from Church World Services in McAllen. The blankets were distributed to over 100 of the local agencies, which gave away the blankets to families for use during the winter season. At one time a number of desks were replaced in a refurnished building and given to the Food Bank, Castillo said. Other items are made available on occasion. "We work with whatever products or food that might help our agencies," he said. "We feel like we work for them."