Success with Young Volunteers

With the summer months comes a crop of young volunteers and, while it’s nice to know kids are doing great things, it can mean additional headaches.  At WAFER, a number of young people are completing mandated community service and are not volunteering of their own volition. While a couple of young volunteers  are usually no problem, a group can affect service, clients, and adult volunteers. Here are eight suggestions:

1.       Set a minimum age limit, under which a child must be accompanied by an adult.

2.       Keep males and females separate as much as possible.

3.       Provide ongoing tasks that do not require extensive supervision.

4.       Avoid putting more than two young people on a single task unless a supervising volunteer is with them.

5.       Allow only one young person on a restroom break at a time.

6.       Thoroughly explain the consequences of inappropriate behavior.

7.       Learn more about the young volunteer—ask about school, sports, music or hobbies.

8.       Above all, though, use lavish praise for a job well done!

Hungry Senior Citizens

A recently published study from the Center for Poverty Research at the University of Kentucky examined hunger issues for senior citizens. Little is known about this issue except that millions of seniors are impacted and that the numbers are likely to grow over the next twenty years. The study, conducted between 2001 and 2005, found that 11.4% of senior citizens faced some kind of hunger issue; that number mirrored the general food insecurity rate. However, today’s food insecurity rate is closer to 14%.


Senior citizens who live alone are particularly vulnerable, as are renters, and those between the ages of 60 and 64. By 2025, the number of food insecure senior citizens is expected to grow by 75% (from 2005), with an expected 9.5 million senior citizens at risk. Other than that, little research has been completed addressing the issue of senior citizen food insecurity.

WAFER is making a small dent in helping area senior citizens via our Senior Share program, in which 3-4 days worth of groceries are delivered to specified Coulee Region sites. This program began with 65 participating senior citizens in March 2010 and currently helps 170 senior citizens. If you know of anyone over age 60 (low income) who could benefit from the program, feel free to contact us at WAFER.

Take the Hunger Challenge

Can you survive on $28 for food? It’s not easy.


For the last three years, the San Francisco Food Bank has issued a Hunger Challenge asking people to alter their food spending for at least one week to mimic that of someone using food stamps. It can be a daunting task.

For the most part, participants find themselves purchasing minimal amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables, stretching milk with water, and cooking meals that lack variety and, for the most part, flavor. Fast food dollar meals, while not nutritious, offer calories and a sense of fullness and so are appealing to someone on a tight food budget.

Those taking the challenge find themselves with decreased concentration, a less enthusiastic approach to cooking, and little opportunity for special meals on holidays or birthdays.

To see how you would do on a minimal food budget, visit this Hunger 101 interactive site: http://www.sffoodbank.org/about_hunger/h101.html

The Rising Price of Food

A recent headline emphasized the increase, and expected continued increase of food prices. In particular, produce is being hit hard. The La Crosse Tribune ran an AP story stating a food price increase of 3.9% in February, the largest in over 35 years. The causes are not only due to the recent freezes affecting crops in the southern United States, but also to worldwide draughts, increased demand, and a rise in the price of animal feed.


Steeper food prices have a profound effect on those individuals already struggling to make ends meet. Where someone with a sizeable income will simply decrease some of their discretionary spending, people at the poverty level have nothing to cut except the very basics like food, utilities, rent, and fuel.

Rising costs have an impact on WAFER as well, from both a donation and purchasing perspective. A donor who normally buys $25 worth of groceries for donation will get less for their money and, consequently, WAFER will receive fewer items. The food WAFER purchases will simply cost more, forcing quantity versus quality decisions.

A New Kind of Pantry

With one in four US residents in poverty, the need for food assistance keeps growing. The question of how we best get more food to more people is one we, at WAFER, often think about.


Client choice pantries, those in which clients “shop,” as in a grocery store, are gaining momentum. They not only allow more dignity for both clients and volunteers, but also tend to use less food. Even better are those panties that allow clients to come whenever they need food, rather than on a regimented monthly schedule. This idea has considerable merit.

When pantry visits are limited to once a month, clients schedule a time to come, whether they need food or not. When food on a specified list is offered, most agree to take all that is presented. However, having an open pantry would encourage people to come to the pantry only when they needed food, and to take as much as they needed for the week.

The drawback, of course, is that people will visit the pantry every week, taking cartloads of food each time. However, I anticipate this is the exception, rather than the standard modus operandi. How much better one would feel about visiting a pantry if all choices were left to the individual.

Eat Healthfully? Not at the Expense of Profit

Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture is recommending Americans eat less, but some fast food companies are preferring profits to healthy living. Beth Mansfield, of CKE Restaurants, Inc, owner of Hardies, says “if we wanted to listen to the food police and sell nuts and berries and tofu burgers, we wouldn’t make any money and we’d be out of business.” (La Crosse Tribune, 2-7-2011).


This is the same kind of reasoning tobacco companies use to defend cigarette smoking: if it makes money, no matter what the long term impact, give people what they want. Companies with this type of attitude absolve themselves of any kind of social responsibility.

The implication from Mansfield’s statement is that it’s perfectly acceptable to sell unhealthy foods, as long as people will buy them. While this idea has some merit, after all, everyone should be accountable for their own health, it lacks any kind of ethical support. Mansfield seems to acknowledge that the foods her company sells are unhealthy, but not worth reevaluating in terms of lower profits.

The Best of Plans

It was the best of plans, or maybe not. Last fall, WAFER purchased land adjoining the building with the intention of constructing a large warehouse addition. The land purchase made sense, as we were using it as a parking lot (with permission of the Mc Cloone, the property’s owner). We were going full steam ahead, drawing up plans, forming a capital campaign committee, dreaming of the changes the new building would bring.

Then we came to a grinding halt after learning we faced a FEMA regulation prohibiting us from adding onto the current facility in any large dollar amount. However, despite being quite cramped for space in the current building, this gives WAFER more time to consider other, more long-term options, perhaps even combining with other hunger –based organizations.

We, at WAFER, are disappointed as we were looking forward to having dedicated warehouse space, a classroom, a better food distribution process, and room to add on to our growing list of hunger programs. Still, we will continue to dream and to work towards our next step, whatever that may be.