Why is the
Adoption Program
Needed?
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WHY IS THE ADOPTION PROGRAM NEEDED?
ENDING FOOD INSECURITY!!!
UsMoms has had so many new families enrol onto our Free Food Box Program that we are struggling as an
organization to meet their immediate need for food and also their need for programs that enable the
families to achieve permanent self-reliance. The rising costs of acquiring and distributing the food has
seriously added to the challenge.
As most of you know, it is our mandate as an organization, and as individuals, that we accept it is our
inherent responsibility to ensure our programs do not increase any single parent family member’s long
term dependency on the social net. It is for this reason we believe it is imperative to offer the level of
nutritional support that is determined by science and medicine as the requirement for elevating the
individual’s capacity from simply surviving to thriving.
To offer the level of nutrition that can reverse the negative side effects of chronic hunger requires us to
purchase fresh fruits and vegetables when donated stocks are low. Though this is a seasonal drop, it will be
months before the local farms can begin to donate to us again.
During the winter months we must purchase at wholesale prices rather than farm prices, to get whatever
fruits and vegetables we need to supplement our donations. The stores that donate their excess produce to
us must do the same thing, so we see a dramatic drop in donations during the winter season. We have
always calculated the annual cost of feeding a family by spreading this seasonal drop in donated items over
the full 12 months.
This year the rising gas costs have made the drop in donated food more severe, as the stores have had to
lower their risks by ordering less. We have had to supplement more. We also have the rising gas prices to
contend with. We drive all over the city to pick up the donated food. We also have to drive to pick up the
purchased food until we have our own building where health regulations permit deliveries. As long as gas
prices remain high, we will continue to have to high costs to get the food that is needed.
When UsMoms applied for funding for this program three years ago, two things were very different. First,
we calculated our growth based on the growth patterns from the other free food programs offered in the
city. Using that scale, we had expected to enrol 500 families by the END of 2005. We had nearly double that
number enrolled by the end of January 2005. As of December, 2007, UsMoms had over 3000 families on our
roster. That means over 10,000 children are dependent on UsMoms for a majority of their nutrition.!!
We also used figures from other food box programs in the city to calculate the costs of acquiring the
donated food, plus the costs of sorting, culling and packing the food into the boxes under the Food Safe
regulations, and then we added the high end figures for distribution of the boxes. The going rate at the
time was $2.50 - $3.00 per box if 94% of the hands-on work was done by volunteers. With the rising costs of
any petroleum based products, (gas, oil, box cleaning supplies, sanitary food handling supplies and
packaging, waste management, etc.) this figure has leaped over the past 4 years to $8.75 - $12.00 per box.
UsMoms has managed to maintain an average cost of $9.98 per box by getting some of these necessary items
donated.
So, you can see how the money we received 3 years ago from funders for the 2005 year’s actual costs would
not cover our growth and the rising costs for the distribution of the food to the families. As we are unable
to return to the funder for more money within the same calendar year (2005), we must do a fund raising
campaign to cover the actual costs we are incurring. This is why we have started this adoption program.
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