(upbeat music) (graphic pops) - Hello and welcome to "The Journal."

I'm Steve Kendall.

Food insecurity is an issue for many people across the country, including many here in Northwest Ohio.

We're joined by Peg Holland from the Brown Bag Food Project here in Bowling Green.

And, Peg, thank you for coming in to talk about this.

Kind of give us a little background because Brown Bag Food Project, you supply food to people who come in and have a need.

But kind of describe overall your operation and how it works and when you're available for people who may find themselves in a situation where, "Hey, you know, we're gonna be a little short on food.

What can we do?

You guys are there."

So talk a little bit about the organization.

- Well, we were founded in 2015 and we're at 530 Sand Ridge Road here in Bowling Green.

And people are allowed to come to us once every 30 days.

- [Steve] Ah, okay.

- And we kind of schedule it that way so that people aren't coming on the first.

And so that there's kind of, come every, you know, the nights that we're open.

We're open Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays from five to 6:30 PM.

And we are lining up in the Montessori School across the street from us.

And then you'll be directed when to come over in front of our building and we'll bring you out a shopping cart full of groceries.

- Yeah.

So if I arrive in the lot and I'm over there waiting, there's probably a form or like a menu and a list of items that are available for me to check and say, "Okay, I'd like one of these, one of those, one of those."

- [Peg] Yeah.

- So kind of describe that process.

So if I come in, what typically would be on that list?

I mean, obviously, there's everything from food, but there's also other things too, like toiletries and paper products and things of that nature.

- [Peg] Okay, we do have a board member come out with that information.

And we have a database that we will ask their name, their address, their phone number, the names and birth dates of everybody in their household.

And then we have somebody that is out there with a clipboard with paper, and then they will ask what items that we might have in the pantry.

We usually ask 'em if they want bread, eggs, and milk.

Because some people don't want one product or another.

And if there's any dietary restrictions, food sensitivities, or allergies, because we get a lot of international people and different people that don't eat chicken or don't eat pork or eat any meat.

We try to serve those people their dietary needs as best we can.

And then we go through some of our hygiene items.

Right now, our hygiene shelves are pretty sad.

That's our most expensive area to maintain.

And so we're always asking for hygiene items.

So... - Yeah.

And I guess when you think about that, you know, we talk about food, but also, too, those everyday items that people use that are not necessarily food related, just as important, if not, more important to some degree.

- [Peg] Right.

- Now, you mentioned the fact that I can come there once every 30 days.

Does that preclude me from going to another food bank in another neighborhood, another city to take advantage?

- [Peg] Oh, no.

- So it isn't like, yeah, I can only use one place every month.

- No, that's kind of what we're geared.

We're geared to serve them.

We've done a survey.

We found out that most of our clients say that their food lasts them anywhere from five to seven days.

We're not here to provide food for the entire month.

There's multiple pantries here in Bowling Green that they can go to.

And just because, you know, they may go through the same database that we are, they are eligible to go to those pantries at the same time.

- [Steve] Ah, okay.

And typically, so, if I come in there, let's just say, and I know there's no typical family.

But, you know, if I'm a mother, father, you know, and two kids, typically, what would be the volume of things or what would I drive away from when I leave your facility?

- Well, you'll usually get a pretty full shopping cart.

- [Steve] Okay, all right.

- You'll get fresh items like bread, eggs, meat.

We try to provide produce.

We get different produce throughout the year.

Even in the winter, we try to provide some kind of produce.

And then we will also ask them if they'd like coffee or tea, which a lot of people's faces really shine when you ask 'em if they'd like coffee.

(Steve laughs) And then we bag all that up, put it in the shopping cart, bring it out the front of the building and bring it to their car.

And if we have the people, we'll help load it.

If we don't, then we'll leave the cart out there for them to load.

- And they'll load too.

So, yeah.

And I know that one of the things that you talked about before the program, obviously, too, this requires, besides what you need on the shelves, it does require some people to be there to do the delivery of the product and that sort of thing.

So when it comes to volunteers, basically, you're open to having anybody who wants to volunteer.

But at the same time, your facility isn't a million square feet, so you have to kind of balance that with the space you have.

So talk a little about your volunteer needs and how you manage that a little bit.

- Well, we have a program we signed up through SignUpGenius.

And if you go to our webpage, BrownBagFoodProject.o-r-g, it'll have a button to push to go to sign up that will take you directly to the SignUpGenius.

And when the SignUpGenius, it'll open up for seven slots.

We allow seven volunteers for every night.

- [Steve] That time, yeah.

- [Peg] Right, right.

So we open up to seven volunteers.

We also get a lot of BGSU students during the year.

We get the education department, which is required to do 25 hours.

So those students are designated to come on any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

And then they complete their 25 hours.

And so that also gives us another additional two to three volunteers on top of the seven.

So when we get really, really crowded, we find different things for the other people to do.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

Because on one hand, you don't wanna turn volunteers away.

But at the same time, you can't be getting in each other's way when you're trying to get this accomplished.

One of the things that I thought was interesting, I was looking about the fact that besides the product, and we're kind of seeing some things on the shelves, some of the photos that we got when we were out there earlier in the week, a donation of money is also, every bit as important, and, in some ways, better than maybe a donation of product.

So talk a little about that as well.

- [Peg] Well, we accept product and we also accept monetary donations.

Sometimes it's better because we can purchase food and different items from the food banks.

One of the food banks is free.

The other one charges us pennies to the dollar.

So if we have to go to the grocery store and buy it, we're paying retail price.

Where if we go to the food bank, we're paying, you know, 15, 18 cents a pound.

- [Steve] Yeah.

And then, of course, obviously, the volume, the more you have, the better off you are too.

Has there ever been a time like, "Oh, we've got way too much whatever here.

What are we gonna do?"

Does that ever happen early?

- [Peg] That happens sometimes.

- [Steve] Does it?

Okay.

- We do, like, a lot of times when we get an excess of produce that comes in, and sometimes we'll share with the other pantries here in town.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- We've partnered with another business that supplies Gordon Foods and we get a lot of produce donated from them.

And if we get an abundance that we can't deal with, then we share with the other pantries that would benefit from giving it away.

- Yeah, because that's one of the things too, I suppose.

When it comes to packaged products, those have a shelf life that is pretty extensive.

But when it comes to other things like produce, yeah, they have a li Limited lifespan and you wanna make sure you get them out where people can use them as opposed to them going bad sitting someplace.

- [Peg] Right.

- One of the things too I was looking, I know, obviously, you've got statistics here.

We were kinda looking at that too.

That the unfortunate thing is, demand continues to increase.

The good news is you guys have been able to meet the demand or at least as much as you possibly can.

But that's gotta be a challenge because, obviously, when you see those numbers grow, that means you have to continue to grow your base of supply and all of that as well.

So that's gotta be a little bit of a challenge knowing that, oh, 2021, for instance, we had, you know, 1,800 households came through last year, 2023.

Your numbers say more than 4,000.

It's doubled in two years.

That's gotta be a challenge for you guys just to keep meeting that demand all the time.

- Well, I know in the last month, we're really struggling.

We were having difficulties getting different meat products from the food bank and it required us to shop retail, which we kind of limit the amount that we spend retail, but, you know, it makes bank account, as everybody knows right now, it's going downwards.

So we did have to put out a cry for help.

Our freezers and refrigerators were empty, and thank God the community rallied around us.

And we've got some donations and cash in and people are constantly dropping off donations to us.

- [Steve] That's good, that's good.

Great.

Well, we'll be back in just a moment.

More with Peg Holland from the Brown Bag Food Project here in Bowling Green.

Back in just a moment on "The Journal."

Thank you for being with us here on "The Journal."

Our guest is Peg Holland from the Brown Bag Food Project.

We've talked about, obviously, the logistics and the tails.

One of the things is, too, though, it just says Brown Bag Food Project.

It doesn't say Brown Bag Food Project for Bowling Green, Wood County, this geographic area.

So in essence, that tells me that you won't turn anybody away.

If they're from Henry County, you don't go, "No, no.

You gotta go back to Henry County."

You're trying to help whoever shows up.

- Right, that's correct.

And you come to us.

we don't do any means testing.

We just check to make sure that you fall within our guidelines.

And most of the people, I haven't had to turn any away who does not fall into the guidelines.

- [Steve] And what are the... What are the minimum requirements sort of the guardrails on this.

- The government sets up... That's what we base it off of.

And most people fall within that guideline.

And some of some people that might come through that don't fall into that guidelines, they might be really struggling right now, you know?

- [Steve] Absolutely.

- And so...

But we still won't turn 'em away.

We just... You know?

But, you know, we remind them that you fall within the guidelines and so that we can provide you food and services.

- [Steve] But anybody who shows up, whether they're, you know, and as you mentioned the fact, too, that obviously, we're very close.

You get over like the city of Fostoria where there's three counties that come together right there.

Some people probably are like, "Well, I wasn't sure if I was in Wood County or Seneca County or whatever."

But the good news is, if they show up, you're not gonna say, "No, gee, you've gotta go back to, you know, Hancock County, "You've gotta go over to Lucas County," "You've gotta do whatever."

When you look at what you have to provide, one thing too is, I know there's also mentions that you provide some level of pet food for people too.

Because obviously, pets are a big part of people's families.

So that's probably pretty rewarding when people come in and realize, oh, they can take care of their pet as well to some degree.

- [Peg] Yeah, we originally did not pass out pet food and when we were doing some deliveries at the time, we found that they were feeding their food to their pet.

- [Steve] Oh, to the pet.

- We were in a home and their pet was eating their food.

So that's how we kind of started providing pet food.

We get donations from pet food.

We get a donation from a gentleman who comes to a local grocery store.

- [Steve] Oh.

- And they save all their broken bags of food, litter, that kind of stuff.

- [Steve] Sure.

- And he puts 'em in bins and then he brings it to us about once a month.

Then we break it all up.

I mean, like I said, it's not supposed to supply your dog for a month.

- [Steve] Yeah, but just...

But, yeah.

- But for that time being.

So pet food is a big deal for us.

- Yeah, yeah.

Now when you look at this situation, and I know that we talked about this a little bit too, that besides the food products, obviously, those other day-to-day items, that's probably... Is that where the real challenge is in terms of getting people to donate things like toilet paper and other things related to our daily hygiene?

Is that more of a struggle in the food products or not?

- Actually, our hygiene shelves are the most expensive area for us to maintain.

I mean, just take a pack of diapers.

Look how much a pack of diapers, some wipes, kids shampoo, their toothbrushes, toothpaste, and all that kind of stuff.

And same thing with the adult items.

We do provide adult diapers.

So we've got quite a donation of adult diapers.

So people, you know, somebody passes away or, you know, no longer needs them, so they donate 'em to us.

So even if they've been open, you know, we can tape 'em back up and pass 'em out, you know?

- [Steve] Sure.

- But, yeah, that's a big area for us to maintain.

- Yeah, and it's one of those things that we talk about food and we think oh, family certain age group.

But the reality is, you're dealing with everybody from infants to senior citizens too people.

Yeah, so it's available too.

And that's something probably people, "Well, gee, I'm only gonna...

It's only for families.

It's only for this particular group."

But the bottom line is you can basically supply the needs of someone no matter what their age or gender.

- [Peg] Yep.

- Whatever that happens to be.

So are you concerned about the fact that, I mean, when you talk with people, I don't know how much you question them when they come in, because, obviously, you don't want to get too involved in their private situations.

Is there anything they say, though, that makes you concerned about the fact that you are seeing your numbers increase?

Is there any kind of a theme that runs that like, "Oh, here's why we're here," or "We didn't think we'd ever be here," that kind of thing.

- [Peg] I hear that a lot.

- [Steve] Okay.

- I myself like to go out and do the intake.

Some of the others rather do the other work back in the pantry.

I prefer to go out among the people because I'm a talker.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- And I've gotten quite a few clients come through in tears, you know, didn't think they would ever wanna be here.

And they're so embarrassed, so ashamed.

There is no reason to be embarrassed and ashamed.

Any one of us... Any one of us in this society could be in line today to get to get food from us.

And we don't want anybody to feel ashamed or embarrassed.

Just come on in.

We will talk through you.

I talked to a lady a couple weeks ago.

She was really struggling, she was in a domestic violence situation, and, you know, she was just ready to end it all.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- And I said, "I want you back in this line next month."

"I wanna see you next month."

- [Steve] "Come see me again."

- "Come see me."

And she came through with her huge dog and she seemed very happy, so... - Well, and that's a good point too, because, you know, we're talking about delivery of physical food and things like that.

But from a mental perspective, having that available is probably a relief for some people, or a lot of people, because it's one thing maybe they don't have to worry about that day.

- Right.

And, you know, I usually tell people when they're struggling like that and they're giving me their tail of woe, don't make food your problem.

I can help you not make food your problem.

- [Steve] You can take that off their list.

- So you can worry about anything else, but don't make food your problem.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

I say then, that's one less thing they don't have to worry about that day.

- [Peg] That's exactly true.

- [Steve] Yeah.

When you look at the kind of where you've been and where you are now, are you feeling good about the fact that you can still get people to come through when there's a need, that kind of thing?

Is that...

I mean, it's obviously, it's work to get thing because it is a constant, unfortunately, that you have to deal with.

But you've always seen the community come forward when needed.

- [Peg] When needed, yeah.

And, you know, like I said, last month was a real tough month for us.

And the community came through like champions, you know?

And businesses and just... You know, businesses doing food drives, doing whatever they can to help.

And, you know, it's a good feeling to know that the community is behind us, you know, and that they want...

The community wants to help.

- [Steve] Sure, sure.

- And they just don't know how to go about helping, you know?

Whether it's food, whether it's monetary, whether it's volunteering, you know, whatever it is, they want to help.

- Yeah, and I think the other thing is, too, and you guys have a structure and an organization there, so they know that if they donate, it's going to be managed well, it's going to be delivered to the people that need it, that kind of thing.

Because I think a lot of times, people are like, "Well, gee, I don't know if I give them that, what's gonna happen?

Are the people who need it really gonna get it?"

That kind of thing.

Whereas as you guys know, direct point of delivery.

Yeah, it doesn't pass through five levels of whatever to get, you know, so by the time it gets to the point of delivery, not as much of it's left.

It goes right directly to the people that need it the most.

When we come back, you know, I like to talk a little bit more about how people can get more involved in terms of donating, volunteering, all of that sort of thing as you look forward to, I guess, a really successful year.

But on the other hand, maybe you would not wanna be in business if you didn't have to be, I guess, in a way.

- [Peg] Exactly.

- Back in just a moment with Peg Holland from the Brown Bag Food Project here on "The Journal."

Thanks for staying with us here on "The Journal."

Our guest is Peg Holland from the Brown Bag Food Project.

We've touched on this earlier, but I wanna emphasize too that, first of all, just how easy it is for people to become volunteers.

Because even though there are times you feel like, well, we've got too many people, the reality is, you're always gonna need volunteers and you'll find a way to make good use of their time with you.

So talk again about the volunteer process and what you expect if you volunteer.

Because we've got pictures of background of people taking things off shelves, but there's a lot that goes into the process from step one to delivery of food.

So talk about that a little bit.

- Well, usually our volunteers sign up through our webpage, BrownBagFoodProject.o-r-g. And there's a button there that says "Volunteer."

You click that button to volunteer, and that will take you to our SignUpGenius.

While BGSU is in session, we have plenty, a lot of volunteers.

But when they're not in session for breaks and summer break and that, we're really scrambling to try to get the Bowling Green community to come in and volunteer.

It's not real strenuous.

As you can see, some of our volunteers are bagging up groceries as the night goes, putting them in a shopping cart, then they're pushing them out front for the clients to get their basket of food.

Then at the end of the night, we will spend some time refilling those shelves from some of our stock and so that we're ready to go on the next night.

- Yeah, and I guess from the volunteer perspective, too, you get the value of knowing you're helping other people as well.

And then as far as people who provide you with product, and you mentioned some of the other food banks, things like that.

But if I'm a business, say, "You know, gee, I'd like to somehow help you out."

How does that process work?

Do I just email you, pick up the phone and call and say, "Hey, I'm so and so, how can I help you?"

Is it just that simple?

- It is that simple.

You know, they can either email us, they can give me a call.

I usually have that phone on me 24/7.

And, I mean, I don't wanna be called at three o'clock in the morning, but whatever.

But, you know, they can call me and say, "Hey, you know, our business is thinking of having a food drive.

What do you guys need?

What can we get for you?"

One thing we emphasize is, you know, not to give expired food.

- [Steve] Okay, I was just gonna say that because I'm sure people say, "Hey, look, it's only one day past its sale date.

Could you use this?"

- [Peg] But we'll still use it.

Anything less than a year old, we have a special shelf that we put out that the clients can take it if they want it.

It doesn't count into their distribution.

We have a shelf that they can just help themselves to anything out there.

And then we just ask them, you know, just to make sure they're not over a year expired.

- [Steve] Sure.

- You know?

We try very hard to keep unexpired food off of our shelves- - [Steve] Right, right.

- For their regular distribution, you know?

I wouldn't wanna receive expired food, you know?

- [Steve] Something expired, sure.

- So we do our best to try to that out of there.

And we date check everything.

You wanna make sure that your jars of whatever, like peanut butter, we've gotten donations of peanut butter.

Somebody might have came along and took a knife full of peanut butter out of the jar, take the lid back on, and, you know, I'm hoping that it's...

They're not aware that somebody took some out.

So we check every peanut butter jar.

We date check every item that is donated when it comes in.

- To make sure it's sealed and still, yeah, self-contained.

- [Peg] Yep, yep.

- Is there another way, too, if I can't just be there when you're open?

Is there another location or someplace I can deposit things that makes sense to put, say, like, in a bin or whatever that you can get access to?

- [Peg] We have a big deck box in front of our building, and it says "Donations" on the front of it just so that people don't get confused.

It is not a blessing box.

- [Steve] Oh, okay.

- [Peg] It's not something that you can just come and help yourself to.

And because we have to bring every item in and, you know, document that we've received it.

And so when they remove stuff from that box, you know, that's something that we need to, you know, we've been trying to address that issue.

And we have that documented on top of it that if you take from this box, it is theft.

So, I mean, I know that we give out food, but, you know?

And then we instruct them, you know, it says on there that they can come, you know, or to call our phone number, and we would be glad to help them.

- Yeah, yeah.

You wanna make sure they get something they need.

But at the same time, you have to manage it and take and take care of it too.

And as you said, you don't want just people randomly taking things in and out of there because that makes it difficult then for you guys to get it onto the shelf so you can distribute it in a proper way.

As you look forward to this, I mean, obviously, you're dealing with something that continues to grow.

Do you see any way to, beyond what you're doing now, I mean, at some point, are you gonna reach a capacity point where you just aren't gonna be able to help as many people?

You'll have to get a bigger facility, that kind of thing?

- [Peg] Well, that's our big dream.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- [Peg] Someday to have our own building, stop paying rent, start paying, you know, for our building.

Building what we need, how it will work.

You know, we make this work and, you know, we get full sometimes.

Our building gets very full, you know?

But, you know, a couple busy nights and back to where we were.

So it doesn't take long between deliveries because we get deliveries every week.

So, you know?

- Well, it's a good point too because you're using a facility that obviously wasn't designed for this kind of service, but you're making it work and and it's working well.

But obviously, if you went to purpose design how you would lay this out, it probably wouldn't be the current floor plan that you have and people parking across the street and then having to drive across and all of that sort of thing.

So, yeah, that would make it more efficient for you guys to be able to deliver service and better for the people who are coming there too because, obviously, you're trying to make it as easy for them as possible and make them feel as comfortable as possible.

- [Peg] Right.

- Do you see... And I assume you probably get this too.

You probably get...

The good news is, you get a lot of repeat business.

The bad news is, you get a lot of repeat business.

So do you see people at first are very reluctant?

As you said, they're like, "Well, didn't think I'd be here.

I don't want to be here."

But then you are able to reach them to point where they realize, "Oh, if I need to come back in another 30 days, it's okay.

- Yeah, we see that a lot.

We also see some people that might not come in for several months, you know?

So things might even out for 'em, but then another catastrophe comes up, you know?

It's just... School starts, you gotta buy all the school supplies.

And so it's just goes, Christmas comes, you know, and then Christmas goes, then you find you're a little bit short.

You know, it varies from our regulars to people who just periodically stop in.

And we check every time they come in, you know, to keep them at that 30 days.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- You know?

And people are getting a lot better at figuring out that it's not once a month, that it's every 30 days.

I try to reiterate when I tell them, "Well, you can return on this such and such day," you know?

- Yeah, because obviously, it would be nice if you could provide whatever on a daily basis.

But obviously, from just from a pure logistical point of view and financial point of view, that's impossible.

But it does fill that need for people who find themselves either, yeah, in a set of circumstances that happens once a year or maybe it's, you know, a little more consistent than that, but they're doing the best they can.

So, it's a great thing that you do.

And again, real simple for people.

They can go to BrownBagFoodProject.org and find out all the information, whether it's volunteering, donating, how I show up if I happen to, you know, need this service at this particular moment.

So, thank you so much.

And then thank you so much for what you do.

And again, anytime you wanna come on and talk about this, and if you are in a situation and you say, "Look, we're gonna need some help here," yeah, give us a yell.

- Awesome, awesome.

Thank you so much for having us.

- Yeah, thank you.

You can check us out at WBGU.org.

You can watch us every Thursday night at 8:00 PM.

We will see you again next time on "The Journal."

Goodnight and good luck.

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