A woman named Kathy exemplified the consumer the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana targets every year.
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When the Food Bank team arrived at Wicker Memorial Park in Highland at 9 a.m. Thursday, Kathy was already waiting to get in line for its Mobile Market, an annual food giveaway the food bank hosts as part of Hunger Action Month. And she’d been waiting since 4 a.m., Food Bank spokeswoman Erika Dahl said.
On disability and with a daughter who is as well, there are days when Kathy has to make choices no mother wants to make for her family, according to Dahl.
“Can you imagine going to the grocery store and having to choose between a gallon of milk and two loaves of bread because you don’t have enugh money? That’s what it’s like for Kathy,” Dahl said as the line for food snaked around the Park Pavilion. “Everyone here today is always so appreciative and grateful for this. People have been asking about it for months.”
With food to feed at least 700 people, customers were able to get up to three loaves of bread, fresh produce, a ham, juice, mac and cheese, and boxed mashed potatoes, Dahl said. And people after the 500th to pass through were even luckier; volunteers would be able to double up on everything except the meat.
The best get of the day was a last-minute donation of fresh watermelons from a Michigan farmer, Dahl said. The farmer had a bumper crop and, after he gave many to food banks in his state, still had a ton.
Since the mobile market was a self-declaring event, all people needed to do was prove residency.
“This is an amazing thing,” Food Bank Executive Director Arlene Peterson said. “We believe in feeding people, and this market is one of the best ways to bring fresh produce to them.”
State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville, has volunteered for the market for the past two years. He said it’s always a learning experience.
“It’s interesting to see some of the difficulties people have, and they don’t even have to tell you — their cars aren’t in good shape, or you can see they have health issues,” he said. “I’m chair of the Ways and Means Committee, and each budget year, the food banks make presentations. I don’t think a lot of folks in the rural areas are aware it’s such an issue.”
Most of the food was paid for through a $5,000 grant issued by Anthem Blue Cross Insurance, Dahl said.
Michelle Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.