WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME you were thankful for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Amazing how so simple a meal can grow in importance when the kitchen pantry is empty and the paychecks have stopped.

In Wichita, as major aerospace manufacturers announce layoffs, the number of families feeling the sting of hunger increases day by day. The Kansas Food Bank, with assistance from Sunflower Foundation, is providing boxes of food – including simple staples such as peanut butter – through a laid-off workers center. The United Way and other local agencies coordinate the center. One day a month, people who are in need due to recent unemployment register for assistance, are assigned a caseworker, and, if eligible, receive financial counseling, career counseling, childcare assistance, gas cards and food.
 

Brian Walker, executive director of the Kansas Food Bank, reports a 30 to 40 percent rise in the number of people accessing various community pantries and soup kitchens. “At the end of our fiscal year in June, we had distributed 7.7 million pounds of food, one million more pounds than the previous year.” With the employment outlook changing in Wichita from week to week, Brian says it is difficult to gauge future needs.

“When we talk about layoffs in the aircraft industry, many more people are affected than the aircraft workers. When aircraft manufacturers scale back, machine shops and other vendors are forced to lay off employees as well. An additional concern is that many people in the aircraft industry support the food bank – these companies have always been strong supporters. So our donors have, in some cases, become our clients,” Brian says.

The Sunflower Foundation’s new “Challenging Times” grant program helped the Kansas Food Bank respond quickly to short-term needs such as this. The grant will provide the funds to supply approximately 2,750 food boxes over one year.

“Sunflower Foundation recognizes that while unemployed people have many needs, none are as essential as food,” Brian says. “Free food is considered critical to those affected by unemployment, because people trying to cut expenses will at times sacrifice money for food in favor of paying fixed costs such as rent, mortgage and utilities.”

Providing something so basic and so needed is met with gratefulness by so many. Brian gives just one example. “A man with four or five family members visited the laid off workers center and received a box of food. About 10 minutes later he came back – just to give our volunteer a hug and tell him how much even this limited amount of food meant to he and his family. We know what we’re doing really helps people. This grant to purchase food couldn’t have come along at a better time.”

Canned beans, potatoes, spaghetti and sauce. It’s what’s in the box that matters most to those Brian serves; but it’s thinking out of the box that is making a difference in Wichita and throughout the state.