Utah Food Bank donations down 50 percent compared to last year


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SALT LAKE CITY — Ginette Bott of the Utah Food Bank has a hunger for helping.

"The goal of the Utah Food Bank is to make sure no one goes hungry," Bott said.

Part of her job is making sure the shelves that line the walls in the food bank stay full, but that's been more difficult to do this summer.

Trucks are loaded every morning at 5:30 and often empty by 11 a.m.

"Summer for us is our busiest time," Bott said, mostly because during those 90 days when children are out of school, free and reduced-price lunch options are off the table, so grocery bills increase.

Bott said the food bank went into the summer at a deficit. Now the bank's supply is down 50 percent — about 60,000 pounds of food — from this time last year. The numbers are hard to stomach, but Bott's positive attitude is anything but perishable.

"Utah is a giving, compassionate culture, and when we put out the call for help, people do respond," she said.


Utah is a giving, compassionate culture, and when we put out the call for help, people do respond.

–Ginette Bott, Utah Food Bank


Every May, the food bank relies on the "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive to help stock its shelves for the summer. This year there was a problem, though.

"A lot of that food was damaged and had to be tossed because the boxes were totally soaked and the food was ruined," said Bott, who attributed a month of record-breaking rain.

"It's just a really bad joke on Mother Nature's part on that particular day," she said.

If you wish to help the food bank, they've made it easy. You can donate cash in person or by visiting their website here. Utah Food Bank can turn every dollar donated into $7 of goods and services.

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Ashley Kewish

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