Two food banks grappling for Pasco dollars

There's a rift between The Volunteer Way and the Pasco Food Bank, which also serves Hernando.

By ALISA ULFERTS

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 27, 2000

Lester Cypher just doesn't understand it.

His group distributes more food than the Pasco Food Bank. It has lower expenses. And it doesn't charge people for supplies.

So why, he asks, will the County Commission vote this morning on a Pasco Food Bank request for up to $175,000 to build a 5,000-square foot warehouse? And why, when the Pasco Food Bank got $490,000 from the county several years ago to relocate, has the same commission given him nothing but a resolution praising his hard work?

"They'll give the money to the same people," Cypher said. "But they won't give us two cents."

Cypher is the unpaid director of another food bank that also needs a new warehouse, The Volunteer Way. Cypher said his group last year oversaw the distribution of more food than the Pasco Food Bank at a fraction of the cost.

And, Cypher said, The Volunteer Way distributes food free to its member pantries -- unlike the Pasco Food Bank, which must pass on its food transport costs to the pantries it serves.

Still, he said, the county has not opened its wallet for The Volunteer Way.

The commission's decision to consider Pasco Food Bank Executive Director Ken Buck's request for a new warehouse has opened a rift between the two food banks. Members of The Volunteer Way accuse the Pasco Food Bank of selling, not donating, food to the needy. Pasco Food Bank officials say The Volunteer Way's claims that it distributed more food are misleading because much of that was simply bread picked up from grocery stores.

So which agency deserves help from the county? Both claim they do.

Last year, Cypher said, The Volunteer Way oversaw the distribution of 1.6-million pounds of food and spent not quite $9,000. During that same time, according to Buck, the Pasco Food Bank distributed about 1.5-million pounds of food for about $220,000.

"We're one hundred percent volunteer," Cypher said. "If you want coffee, you buy it yourself" and many of the volunteers absorb some of the costs such as gasoline.

The Pasco Food Bank depends on volunteers, too, but has seven full-time paid positions, including the $40,000 paid to Buck, the executive director, and the $32,000 paid to his wife, the associate director. The group also pays a part-time worker.

Unlike the Pasco Food Bank, Cypher said The Volunteer Way deals almost exclusively with food distribution programs that do not charge to transport the food, such as the surplus foods provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That means his group does not have to pass transportation costs to the pantries that distribute the food to those in need, Cypher said.

"We give it away," Cypher said, adding that his food bank does ask for donations from those churches that can afford it. Such donations make most of that agency's revenue, Cypher said. But those who can't afford to give or give much still receive food, he said.

"If you give $12 and the other guy from the big church gives $150, you don't get less food," Cypher said.

And rather than hire its own carriers to pick up surplus food from local grocery stores, The Volunteer Way coordinates with individual churches and pantries to pick up the food themselves, Cypher said.

Buck is quick to defend his program, which he has built over the past several years. Although there are some costs built into the national network that helps supply the Pasco Food Bank, Buck said that system ensures the availability of a wide range and reliable source of food for the needy.

"They (The Volunteer Way) don't have the ability to obtain and distribute the wide variety of nutritious food that we do," Buck said.

The bulk of the Pasco Food Bank's supplies comes from its mother food bank in Tampa, Divine Providence, which charges Pasco 7-cents a pound for the food, said warehouse manager Terri Tudor.

The Pasco Food Bank then charges a "fair share donation" of 14-cents a pound on most of the food that clears its warehouse, although the bank is holding a summer sale at 10-cents a pound, Tudor said.

Tudor bristles when people suggest the bank is selling food.

"People don't comprehend that," Tudor said. The pantries that depend on the Pasco Food Bank, which are in Pasco and Hernando counties, understand that they are fulfilling their mission to feed the hungry by supporting the food bank, Tudor said. It's still much cheaper than what the churches could buy for themselves to fill their pantries, she said.

"I tell them, you have chosen to be our congregation," Tudor said. Nor does the bank charge for all its food, Tudor said. "We donate a lot of stuff. What good does it do me to have it sitting here. I'd rather help the community."

- Staff writer Alisa Ulferts covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is ulferts@sptimes.com.

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