Food Drive Nets 4 Tons

ITEMS GO TO NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FOOD BANK

Marge Wolf, right, director of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, thanks the Benton County Sheriff’s Office and partner agencies Wednesday in Bentonville following Sheriff Keith Ferguson’s announcement of an 8,371-pounds-of-goods donation to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. The donation surpassed the Sheriff’s Office’s 2008 donation by 3,656 pounds.
Marge Wolf, right, director of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, thanks the Benton County Sheriff’s Office and partner agencies Wednesday in Bentonville following Sheriff Keith Ferguson’s announcement of an 8,371-pounds-of-goods donation to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. The donation surpassed the Sheriff’s Office’s 2008 donation by 3,656 pounds.

— The hungry in Benton County should be a little less so in the coming year.

The 2009 Benton County Sheriff’s Office Northwest Arkansas Food Drive brought in more than 8,371 pounds of food to donate to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

The drive collected 4,714 pounds last year.

“We’re very pleased and happy for the donations,” Sheriff Keith Ferguson said at a Wednesday morning news conference. “This is the season to be giving, not receiving.”

The Northwest Arkansas Food Bank distributed more than 3 million pounds of food in Benton, Washington, Madison and Carroll counties last year.

“You have no idea what this food means to people,” said Marge Wolf, executive director of the food bank. “The food literally comes in one door, goes on the shelf and goes back out the other door.”

The public has thought of the bank as a resource for feeding hungry children, but Wolf said because of the economic downturn older people use the food bank.

“The demographics have changed to include the elderly,” she said. “There are people who were giving last year that are taking from the pantry this year. That has to be difficult for them.”

Jerry Owen, chief of the Beaver Lake Fire Department, thanked the sheriff and trusties, who picked up collections from the 29 food barrels placed throughout the county.

“We had good participation in Prairie Creek,” Owen said. “All the older people like to participate in this drive.”

Tim Ledbetter, police chief of Pea Ridge, won an informal competition with Capt. Mike Jones of the Benton County Sheriff’s Office over who could collect the most food.

Ferguson pointed out this is the second year in a row Jones has lost to Ledbetter.

“We appreciate being challenged by Mike,” Ledbetter said. “We appreciate it even more when we win. But we’re just one police department on the east side of the county. There are a bunch more on the west side that need to man-up.”

Ledbetter talked about challenging more departments in next year’s food drive.

One participant from the west side, the IGA in Siloam Springs, did “man up.” The store donated 1,320 pounds of meat products to the drive.

Ferguson also praised Harps Foods.

“Harps put out a great effort,” Ferguson said. “I don’t know how many barrels they emptied.”

The food drive kicked off Oct. 15 and ran through Dec. 23.

The Northwest Arkansas Food Bank is at 1378 June Self Drive in Bethel Heights.

AT A GLANCE

Northwest Arkansas

Poverty Statistics

The 2000 Census determined Benton and Washington counties to be two of the top three counties with the most people living below the poverty level.

According to the 2000 Census, poverty in Rogers grew by 130 percent over the last decade, while in Springdale poverty grew by 104 percent.

Benton County ranks second in the state in number of people living in poverty.

The total number of people living in poverty in Northwest Arkansas’ four largest cities, Rogers, Bentonville, Springdale and Fayetteville, was 23,100 in 2000. By 2015, it is estimated that Northwest Arkansas will have the largest population of poverty in the state.

Source: Northwest Arkansas Food Bank

Upcoming Events