HUNTINGTON —
A representative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture visited the Huntington Area Food Bank Monday to talk program strategies and public needs.
Audrey Rowe, administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service of the USDA, toured the food bank warehouse and gave pointers on food storage and organization.
“We walked around and took a tour of the warehouse and talked about what could make it better. Like there’s a need for pallets, and we talked about ways to organize and make things easier for the people who work here,” Rowe said.
She said one reason she wanted to visit West Virginia is because National Farmers Market week began Sunday, and the state is full of them. She also wanted to take the opportunity to see Huntington’s food bank program, share her best practice techniques and get feedback from workers at the good bank to learn more about how to shape public policy.
“I’m always looking for what we should be doing that would be more helpful ... My colleagues at work said this is a place you need to go, and Huntington had a reputation with what Jamie Oliver did here. I wanted to see it now,” Rowe said.
Leigh Anne Zappin, executive director of the food bank, was happy to tell Rowe about the food bank’s latest developments.
“She already knows what a great job we do, but I want her to see it,” Zappin said.
Zappin showed Rowe the food bank’s newest addition, a brand new fleet of trucks. Before the new trucks arrived the food bank only had two small trucks and often needed to rent vehicles to make food deliveries, which was expensive.
“They’ve made such a huge difference,” Zappin said. “We can use the money for other purposes. We can operate a mobile pantry now.”
She also used Rowe’s visit as an opportunity to share the progress of the high school food pantry program. Several pantries have been placed in high schools in surrounding West Virginia counties. These pantries serve not only the children in the community, but their families as well, Zappin said.
“It’s a pet peeve of mine,” she said. “There are so many kids going to school hungry ... People think these kids are self-sufficient, but they’re not. They have to have support behind them.”
The food bank also established a pantry in an Ohio high school this summer, and the first week 52 children looked to the pantry for help, Zappin said. And when she mentioned trouble with one of the schools in McDowell County asking them to move the pantry to another location because of the crowd it was drawing to the school, Rowe said she would speak to the school’s superintendent about the incident.
“I’m serious, I’m talking to the superintendent tomorrow,” Rowe said.
Two Marshall University students who recently created a nutrition education program at the food bank also had a chance to chat with Rowe about new concepts and ideas for their program.
“I’m impressed, very pleased with what’s going on here,” Rowe said.
SHANNON MILLER can be reached at smiller@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2657.
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USDA representative tours Huntington Food Bank
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