Regional food donations soar after Christmas

The River Valley Regional Food Bank collected more than 11,000 pounds of donated food Monday (Dec. 27), and will likely collect that much and more during the remainder of the week from grocery stores and restaurants clearing their holiday food inventory.

According to Ken Kupchick, director of marketing and development for the Fort Smith-based food bank, 11,500 pounds of food was collected in Alma, Fort Smith and Van Buren from six Walmart supercenters, a Neighborhood Market, the Sam’s Club in Fort Smith, two Harp’s stores and two Price Cutters.

Mrs. Bairds, a bread company that recently entered the Fort Smith regional grocery market, provided a large part of the donation.

“The number will be more impressive after tomorrow, but 11,000 (pounds) is nothing to sneeze at —  thanks to Mrs. Bairds who has given us half the yield,” Kupchick noted.

The food bank provides food to more than 190 organizations in Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Polk, Scott, Sebastian and Yell counties.

Dirk Hemson, manager of the Harp’s at Fianna Hills, said the store typically donates bread, dented cans and other food items with damaged packaging.

“Generally it’s bakery and deli items that are close-dated that we pull ahead of time. They are perfectly good items, but we just have standards here at the store level that we won’t keep it after a certain number of days,” Hemson explained.

He also said the Harp’s store at Fianna is a smaller store with less room for inventory, meaning it does not donate as much food as the larger stores that “stock up for the holidays.”

“This last week was the busiest week of the entire year,” Hemson explained. “The store here is such a high-volume store for the size. We don’t have as much on our shelves as maybe the larger stores.”

However, Hemson said the store is a regular supplier to the food bank.

“There is no telling how many dollars a year in food we donate to that,” he said.

Restaurants also donate. Kupchick said Tuesday will see the food bank pick up food from the Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse. In addition to receiving more donations from the grocery stores that pushed donations on Monday, the food bank is also expecting on Tuesday a “large load” from the Walmart Distribution Center in Clarksville.

Despite the large donations expected this week, early estimates by the food bank indicate the amount may be less than what was received during the same period in 2009.