Dallas is a city of social extremes.
While the wealthy dine in some of the nation’s most expensive restaurants, thousands go without food.
This dichotomy has touched different people in different ways, leading to the formation of a variety of agencies to help address various aspects of the problem.
One of the newest in Dallas County Harvest, a year-old volunteer group that collects excess food from restaurants, bakeries, stores and manufacturers and distributes the food to agencies that serve the needy. Several neighborhood businesses and volunteers participate in the program.
Gary Parks helped form the group after seeing a television program about the national parent group called U.S.A. Harvest.
Dallas County Harvest functions as a coordination, transportation and distribution service to match usable food from donors with agencies that serve or distribute food to needy clients. The group accepts only food – no monetary donations.
Previously, participating restaurants, stores and manufacturers with leftover prepared foods, refrigerated products nearing the expiration date, or canceled orders threw the food in the trash. Now, they either save the food for a regular pickup by Dallas County Harvest or call the group when they have an unexpected windfall.
Some volunteer drivers and coordinators work an hour each week, while others design a route they can service daily on the way to or from work or other activities. The goal is to get the food from donor to recipient in 30 minutes or less.
Neighborhood resident, Betty Lipman, is a volunteer with the organization. As a nurse with the Red Cross, Lipman has seen her share of people in crisis.
“Food is a basic need for everyone,” Lipman says. “I grew up in Iowa in a small town from a background where nothing was wasted, so this philosophy is a part of my heritage.”
“We usually have five to 50 half-cooked fresh pizzas left over once a week after we have a special pizza night,” says Dave Derdeyn, manager of the Granada Movie Grill in East Dallas.
“We’re very donation-oriented, and (Harvest) supplies us with food containers, so all we do is put the food in there and freeze it, and they come by later to pick it up.”
Anyone who wonders whether Dallas County Harvest’s efforts are worthwhile need only ride along on a delivery someday, Parks says.
“The thing that gives me a big rush is to see people eating food that we brought in and to know it is helping somebody,” Parks says. “You should see the kids react when we bring in fresh pizza. They are bouncing off the walls. Sometimes the kids at shelters have never been served fresh pizza – but they have seen it on TV.”
For information about Dallas County Harvest, call 369-7327.
