Dan Flowers and his family were eating at a Cracker Barrel on New Year’s Eve when they learned a stranger had picked up their tab.Flowers, president and chief executive of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, told that story Wednesday and shared the clarity it brought to him as he spoke at the kickoff of his agency’s annual Harvest for Hunger campaign.“The truth is, when people give out of the bounty of goodness and love, a window in the very heart of love is open that defies our understanding,” Flowers said of the random act of kindness. “The only person who felt as good as we did was the man who paid for our dinner.”Flowers, often sounding like a preacher, spoke in front of an audience of food pantry and soup kitchen officials and others who are part of the 450 agencies that receive goods from the food bank. The goal for this year’s Harvest for Hunger is to raise $865,000 and 110,000 pounds of food through April 7.The food bank, which can leverage each dollar into about four meals, provided nearly 15 million meals and 19.4 million pounds of food last year in the eight counties where it operates: Carroll, Holmes, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Tuscarawas and Wayne. Flowers expects the agency to surpass those numbers this year.“Here is our chance to get a slice of that goodness right here, right now by going all out for this Harvest for Hunger campaign,” said Flowers, who was surrounded by tons of food on pallets.Nearly 300 businesses will conduct events for the campaign. Local supermarket chains will take part in “Check Out Hunger,” which allows shoppers to donate at the register.To illustrate the widespread need, Flowers said the “food insecurity rate,” meaning the number of people who do not have regular access to food, in his eight-county service area is 16.2 percent of the population, or about 247,600 people. He said one in four children in the eight counties does not have regular access to food.Flowers noted that about 40 percent of the “food-insecure” population is not eligible for any government assistance, like food stamps, because their incomes are too high.“It’s hard to believe, in a land where food and drink are so plentiful,” Flowers said, that “50 million Americans don’t know where there next meal is coming from.”William Considine, president and chief executive of Akron Children’s Hospital and the honorary co-chairman of the drive, said the bottom line is “the common theme of feeding people and fighting hunger.”Akron Deputy Mayor Dave Lieberth pointed out the kickoff coincided with Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.Thousands of children “will get their only hot meal in school today,” he said. “It gives our community a reality check when they need it most during this season of giving and giving up.”Clark C. Bennett, an 87-year-old Army veteran of World War II and Korea and a Firestone retiree, has worked at the food bank for 26 years as a fork-lift operator. He said the mission of the food bank is essential in the community.“When people get hungry, what can be more important than that?” he asked. Bennett, of Coventry Township, is the most-senior employee at the agency. He will be honored today, when the flagpole outside the food bank is dedicated to him.Flowers said the food bank is using a fictional cartoon character, Kate, to try to spread its message.“If you don’t know a person who is struggling with hunger, it is time to take a closer look,” he said.The theme of this year’s drive is aimed at finding solutions to hunger, Flower said.“Hunger is closer than you think, but so is the solution,” he said.For more, go to www.
akroncantonfoodbank.org, www.hungrykate.org or www.facebook.com/akroncantonfoodbank.Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or at jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.