Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 24, 1990 TAG: 9005230362
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
But low-income people living in rural areas have to think about it.
Food stamps don't go as far in America's rural communities as they do in cities, according to a recent study conducted by Public Voice for Food and Health Policy, a non-profit organization that focuses on the nation's food supply.
Furthermore, the study reports that in America's countryside shoppers find less and pay more.
How do these families get fed?
One way is through Self Help and Resource Exchange, commonly called the SHARE program.
As an activity of New River Community Action, SHARE supplies food at a minimum cost to low-income families and anyone wishing to stretch food dollars.
"It's not a hand-out program and it doesn't work on an emergency-only basis, either," said Kathy Rayne, SHARE program director. "People feel good about themselves because they have to work for what they get."
Participants pay $13 in cash or food stamps plus two hours of community service for food units ordered through host organizations, such as St. Mary's Catholic Church in Blacksburg and the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Radford.
More participants in the program mean larger quantities of food can be purchased for lower prices. Volunteers bag it themselves and then it's distributed once a month from two warehouses in Pulaski and Weber City. Between 5,000 and 10,000 units are distributed each month.
"We're good, but we don't come near serving all of them," Rayne said of the hungry and poor.
The international program, which is headquartered nationally in San Diego, Calif., is sponsored by church groups, local businesses, civic clubs, human service agencies and private donors.
SHARE Virginia, which is one of 18 affiliates in the U.S., serves 22 counties and cities in southwest Virginia with hosts in West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
On distribution day last weekend in Pulaski, about 40 volunteers were packing, stacking and moving food to four different gates where 105 hosts came to pick it up for their 3,640 participants.
An 18-wheeler was loaded at 5:30 a.m. for a trip to West Virginia with 1,000 units of food, each containing such items as chicken, turkey deli meat, hard salami, potatoes, carrots, pasta and fig bars.
Rayne said about 135 volunteers show up to package the food and distribute it. Volunteers come from all walks of life including students, bankers and jail trusties.
"They're always here. I never have to call," said Rayne.
Jean Montgomery is another volunteer who's always there.
As area director of Community Action in Giles County, Montgomery is also SHARE's purchaser and warehouse manager. She spends about two weeks a month getting prepared and then supervising distribution.
"The job keeps you busy because there are a lot of people who need food," she said. "I wish more could benefit from this program."
And as each truck, car and van drove up to the first gate, volunteers like Blacksburg native Denise Marriott, 18, helped load up their food.
"It's tiring," she said of the duties that begin about 6 a.m. and end in the early afternoon. "But I know I'm doing a lot of good for people."
For more information, call Rayne at 382-6186. The next distributions are June 23 and July 28.
by CNB