The Community Food Bank Has Bitten Off More Than It Can Chew. PRAY FOR A miracle. Because that's increasingly what it looks like the Tucson Community Food Bank will need to survive. We don't wish to sensationalize this matter--the Food Bank is far too important to this town for mere verbal shenanigans. If you've ever been forced to wonder where your next meal is coming from, or how you're going to feed your kids tomorrow, the mere thought of the Food Bank collapsing is gut-wrenching. But it could. As early, some are whispering, as June or July. All the public has been told so far is that the Food Bank has been forced to cut back on the amount of food it doles out to the elderly and others--folks in dire need. The official explanation is that demand is growing. Unfortunately, that's probably mostly a public relations dusting designed to camouflage some ugly open sores on a seriously sick organization. For example, the news reports fail to mention what's happened to the charity's grand plans involving the old Levy's warehouse. Food Bank officials told the public that acquiring the gargantuan Levy's building would mean they'd no longer have to turn away $4 million worth of food each year due to cramped storage conditions. Acquiring the $2.7 million facility would make a big difference, we were told. Well, apparently it hasn't. We find it odd that ordinary Tucsonans, who donate so much in the way of food and dollars to this vital non-profit organization, have not been told the truth about its troubles. We find it odd that our town's major daily newspaper, The Arizona Daily Star, which should know better, would go along with this transparent fiction, as it did in a recent news story and editorial. What's everybody afraid of? They fear that if the Food Bank goes under, people will starve. They fear that if people who've given money to the Food Bank in the past find out how some of that money has been spent, they may stop giving. They fear the needy will suffer. Children, the elderly, the desperately poor. That's the last thing anybody wants. Nonetheless, fear is a poor excuse for spouting PR blather to the public, a strategy which ultimately will harm the Food Bank and Tucson's hungry far more than getting the truth out in the open. And what is the truth? Internal Food Bank management documents obtained by The Weekly include this telling sentence: "...We need to frame our words to say we have a hunger crisis in Pima County, not that we have a financial crisis, that for some reason we can't manage." In fact, the Food Bank does have a severe financial crisis. And whether the organization's board of directors can manage it remains to be seen. But from where we stand, they appear to be teetering on the edge of financial--and societal--disaster. The Food Bank's current operating deficit is predicted to hit $300,000 to $400,000 by the end of this fiscal year. And the organization's staff have already suffered some attrition as the financial screws tighten. In addition, that gigantic building requires large amounts of money simply for upkeep and maintenance. Meanwhile, in the face of this deficit, it costs nearly $15,000 a month to cover the Food Bank's basic operations. We certainly hope the board's decision to hire well-known local fundraiser Sally Drachman will do much to alleviate the problem. Perhaps she'll manage to pull off that much-needed miracle. But we're told Food Bank officials have agreed to pay her $100 an hour, and she plans on working only eight hours a week on this project--oh, and she'll be spending the summer in La Jolla. It looks like a case of too little, too late. And remember: Every $15,000 the Food Bank raises will buy it only about one month's operating time. Beyond the need for additional donations--a need every Tucsonan should feel obligated to meet--we're told Food Bank officials have a poor handle at best on the nature of their budgets. We're told this multi-million-dollar business is still run very much like it was when it began 17 years ago, at the whim of its longtime executive director, Punch Woods. Woods owns the hunger problem in Tucson like no other. He understands it better, and has done more to alleviate it than anyone--period. If he were acting on the world stage, he would have won a Nobel Peace Prize long ago. In short, it would be a shame if the Food Bank were to lose his services any time soon; more than that, it would be a community-wide tragedy. However, we believe the time has come for the Food Bank board and the community in general to make a realistic assessment of today's increasingly critical situation. The problem of hunger can only grow worse if the economy, in its usual cyclical fashion, heads south just as federal welfare "reform" kicks in. The months ahead look like a very bad time indeed to gamble with a financially shaky Food Bank run "off the cuff" by any single individual, no matter how visionary and charismatic. Woods' inspirational and leadership abilities undoubtedly will always be a tremendous asset to the Community Food Bank; but at this point, frankly, the board needs to kick him upstairs. When it comes to day-to-day operations, the increasingly dire situation cries out for hard-nosed decisions and solid business management. The wolves are growling right outside our walls, and the gate damn well better hold.

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