Entering into its second decade, the Farm to Food Bank program sponsored by the Maryland Food Bank has become an important avenue of donated local fruits and vegetables to needy citizens throughout the state, and especially so on the Eastern Shore.

With the recent COVID-19 virus affecting both the supply and demand of food in the state, the Farm to Food Bank programs have taken on a greater role than before. The program runs statewide, including Caroline County and seven other Eastern Shore counties.

“Because of the COVID -19 virus, the need is greater than it has ever been to gather and distribute food because there are so many more who need assistance,” said Amy Cawley, a Denton resident who grew up on a farm and is in her 10th year as the coordinator of the Farm to Food Bank program. “Most of us are one paycheck away from struggling and thus, those individuals who lost their jobs or were furloughed have lost the income needed to provide food for their families. Some may have even had their homes foreclosed. They need a place where they can get the food they need but can’t afford themselves.

At the same time, many of the stores which donated food in the past have had less to donate for various reasons,” Cawley added.“Early on in the pandemic, donations were down 90 percent. Stores have less unsold inventory because suppliers have sent less or stopped delivery altogether.

“In Maryland, we haven’t quite hit the harvest season, so hopefully state farmers will be able to help supply us with their local produce,” Cawley added.

Cawley said food is obtained in three ways for distribution to local food banks:
Through donations from farmers made directly to one of three regional food bank distribution centers (Baltimore, Salisbury, Hagerstown).
Through farmers allowing food bank volunteers to glean their fields after the harvest has been completed, which means that what remains may be picked.
By purchasing food with funds received from grants.

“We are fortunate that we have strong support from our farm partners. As for the grants, we have several grant writers on hand who do nothing but fill out grant applications,” Cawley said. “The grants make up most of the funds needed to purchase whatever produce we don’t get from the first two methods. “Governor Hogan’s office has been very supportive of the program,” added Cawley, who is the daughter of farmer Charlie Cawley and the granddaughter of the late Wayne Cawley, who served as Maryland Secretary of Agriculture.

Cawley said when she started with the program 10 years ago there were just two farms partnering with the Maryland Food Bank. Now there are 54 – about a dozen of which are located in Caroline County.

“This program is a win for the farmer, the food bank and for the people who receive the food,” Cawley said.

Last year, Maryland farmers contributed approximately three million pounds of food to the Maryland Food Bank. Among the fruits and vegetables donated were peaches, watermelons, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and apples. Cawley said food items such as bread and other bakery items, canned foods and protein items are donated by local grocery stores. Perdue Farms, for instance, donates a large amount of poultry products each year.

“We will go pick up the items from the farm because farmers are busy and don’t always have the time to bring their produce to Baltimore or Salisbury from the Eastern Shore,” explained Cawley, who added this also eliminates any cost to the farmers from transporting the fruits and vegetables.

Cawley said Caroline County farmers donate large amounts of produce each year.

“Local farms are big supporters of the Farm to Food Bank program. After all, it is called the Green Garden County for good reason. There are a lot of food bank partners in the county,” Cawley said.

Cawley said an added incentive for donating food is the tax credits which can be gained.

“Maryland offers tax credits to anyone who donates. A lot of farmers take advantage of that, some don’t,” Cawley said.
Once the crops are collected, they are delivered to Salisbury (for crops from Caroline County) and weighed, then entered into the inventory list. Maryland Food Bank partners (churches, schools, pantries, low income apartment complexes, as examples) order what they need. The orders are then filled and delivered to the partner for distribution at an agreed-upon date and time. Only MFB partners have access to the on-line inventory.

Each partner has their own method of handling distribution. For instance, until the COVID-19 virus hit, those needing food could form a line and then go through and pick what items they wanted. That method has been changed by the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We have had to change our method of distribution to drive-up locations where the people can drive up in their cars and one of our volunteers will bring a box (or boxes) with food in it to the car. That has slowed the process a lot and limits individual choice,” Cawley said.

That also means that the food is boxed ahead of time. Cawley said each box has a one-week supply of food that includes items from all major food groups including fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy and bread items.

“If we find out that a larger family needs food, we may bring a second box, but we can’t specifically load boxes for particular desires,” said Cawley.

There are several locations in Caroline County, among them Aaron’s Place at the former Wesleyan Camp, Living Waters Church in Denton, Seventh Day Adventist in Denton, St. Martin’s Barn in Ridgely, Denton Christian Church, Ridgely United Methodist Church, First Church of God in Federalsburg and Trinity Methodist in Goldsboro. County schools also participate in the back pack program. Refer to the Maryland Food Bank webpage for more locations.

Jennifer Small, who oversees Maryland Food Bank operations on the Eastern Shore from the Salisbury office said the need is significant in Caroline County.

“Caroline County has a food insecurity rate of 11.3 percent of the county’s population,” said Small, meaning that percentage of county residents don’t have enough food to eat. “COVID-19 has had a negative effect on the county,

Small added that in order to meet the need, 5.1 million pounds of food was distributed in May compared to 2.7 million pounds for the same period last year. Therefore, financial support is needed more than ever before.

Cawley said the delivery of purchased food to the Maryland Food Bank never stopped, but did slow down.

“We never shut down due to COVID, but delivery is taking much longer. It now takes 50 days from the ordering to delivery,” Cawley said. “That’s much slower than before and causes a hardship to our partners and those needing food to feed their families. Waiting 50 days is a long time.

“We’ve had to buy more food. It has gone from spending $200,000 last year to over $1 million for the same period this year,” added Cawley.

Cheryl Beulah is the director of Aaron’s Place, which has teamed up with the local Seventh Day Adventist Assembly and Living Waters congregation to maintain a food bank at the former Wesleyan Camp in Denton.

“Demand is definitely up. We see a lot of people we haven’t seen in the past. We even have families driving down here from Baltimore to get food because they hear it is here and they can’t get it where they are,” said Beulah.

As a rule, identification is not needed to prove where a person lives so in most cases there is no restriction on who can receive food.

Beulah said an example of the demand was what happened at a food drive she organized in mid-June. People started lining up their cars at 7 a.m. for distribution which began at 2 p.m.

“If they really need food, they will line up that early for it,” said Beulah.

Beulah said she moved to the Denton area from Baltimore seven years ago and was “looking for something to do to make a difference.” Her father, Pastor Aaron Moulden, had run a food bank at his church in Baltimore so she began Aaron’s Table, which is named after him.

“When I started, we handed out just 12 boxes. I can’t believe how the need has increased to what it is now,” Beulah said. “There are so many people out there in need for a lot of reasons. More is needed every year and we’re doing our best to keep up.”

Cawley said the Maryland Food Bank is always looking for volunteers. Contact Amy Cawley at 443-735-0757 or at acawley@mdfoodbank,org to sign up to volunteer and glean fresh produce across Caroline County. Financial donations are also needed and accepted. Checks may be mailed to the Maryland Food Bank, 28500 Owens Branch Road, Salisbury, MD, 21801 or made online at www.mdfoodbank.org.