Fighting for Hope
Ann Arbor nonprofits working around COVID threat to serve their community
—By James Varblow
The global pandemic has shaken the foundations of American society. Among those struggling, small businesses have taken an exorbitant hit. A survey conducted by Facebook found that as of May 2020, 31% of American small businesses were not operating in any way. The rate of closure has halved since then, but businesses continue to struggle, finding the need to seriously cut expenses to stay open.
In the face of these hardships, Ann Arbor’s local nonprofits Hope Clinic and Food Gatherers have found ways to adapt, serving the growing needs of the community.
Food Gatherers is a local food bank. They provide food services to over 170 nonprofit agencies and programs across Washtenaw County, working with over 1,600 volunteers to provide 75,000 meals annually. Hope Clinic is a partner of Food Gatherers, receiving food from their stores and distributing it across the Ann Arbor area. Hope Clinic generally works more directly with the community, distributing food and providing much needed medical, dental, and therapeutic support for poor communities.
The early struggles
The initial pandemic lockdowns were a huge challenge for nonprofits, as they faced a growing need of aid, a shortage of supplies, and the danger of spreading the virus. “It really was a perfect storm,” reports Hellen Starman, Chief Development Officer of Food Gatherers. “There was an immediate and significant growth in food insecurity. A large number of people lost their jobs, and we had significantly increased demand across our meal programs.” Of their 170 partners, demand for food rose anywhere from 30-300%. Of these new visitors, 40% reported never having to ask for food support before.
On top of this, Food Gatherers had to work around a decrease in their sources of food. Prior to the pandemic, they had received about half their food from rescue programs, donated by grocery stores. As grocery stores were hit by a surge of panicked buyers, they were no longer able to provide this level of support. Starman notes that “for the first six weeks, in particular, it was very hard to get food even if you could pay for it.”
Hope Clinic naturally dealt with similar problems at the onset of the pandemic. They were hit by the same wave of demand as Food Gatherers. Additionally, their medical support programs were affected by the safety precautions, as they worked to reduce contact with their patients as much as possible.
These non-profits were both able to work through the initial struggle in different ways. Hope Clinic’s initial priority was to eliminate contact wherever possible. Their medical and dental clinics enacted new safety procedures and moved towards virtual appointments whenever possible. The main office was decentralized, and volunteers worked alone, delivering food to individual houses, rather than having people gather collectively.
Food Gatherers, meanwhile, has been given a different kind of support. With the food bank’s configuration and the new safety guidelines, they were not able to host any of the volunteers that they had relied on in the past. The National Guard helped with this, deploying a team of ten to work full time, April through June, and again since August.
Growth and hardship
As the pandemic has progressed, both nonprofits have found ways to acclimate to the new world. “When things first hit, we were meeting every morning, for two hours,” reports William Kangas, Hope Clinic’s Director of Community Engagement. “I guess we have our systems in place now.” Kangas noted that it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. They’ve had to deal with the spike of cases that arrived with the cold weather, forcing them to further restrict appointments, especially for dental care. However, Kangas is hopeful as he looks towards the clinic’s future.
Kangas brought up the matter of racial equity in his interview. “There’s a lot of health disparities that were highlighted through infection rates that were not equal across socioeconomic and racial divides, and I think a lot of people are going to have to deal with it more intentionally.… This raised some issues that we have to consider.”
The CDC has cited studies showing that Black and Hispanic Americans are proportionally more likely to test positive than their White and Asian counterparts. This is thought to be due to systemic inequality among Black and Hispanic minorities, such as disproportionately lower quality in occupation, housing, and healthcare.
These differing levels of infection across ethnic groups has led to increasing awareness toward the issue of racial equity. Kangas reports that they are working as an organization to better understand the subject and how to fight these inequities in the future. “When we talk about systemic racism, these systems often aren’t easy to change, or even visible. They’re going to be a lot more subtle.” Kangas is hopeful about their fight against racial disparities in the future. “I think we’re going to be better equipped…for dealing with issues of racial inequities at work.”
Starman reports a similar mix of growth and struggles in Food Gatherers’ efforts to serve people across Washtenaw County. “It just keeps changing. You think you’ve solved it and then there’s a whole new thing to tackle,” she remarked. First, Food Gatherers has worked to support their foodbank without volunteers, support their necessary employees while keeping them safe, and resolve the food shortage. Starman reports that they have been able to deal with these things as they’ve come. The National Guard has helped in place of volunteers, their safety measures have effectively protected their employees, and community support has given Food Gatherers the ability to buy the extra food they need.
They’ve also worked with their partners to provide delivered care packages for families that may not be safe going out in the pandemic. “Probably the biggest change was in the way our partners distributed food.” Starman remarked that while they usually would display food in a grocery setting, they’ve moved to a different method, using pre packaged emergency food boxes. Most of these foods are nonperishables, but they’ve been working to supplement them with things like dairy and meat when possible.
Food Gatherers has also been working to advocate for government support in this sector. They’ve received such support through things such as the food stamps program, along with special programs related to the COVID relief effort. Starman noted with some frustration that such programs have been rather unreliable over the past year. The USDA Trade Mitigation Program has been cut, a program in which the government bought farm products and distributed them to various food banks. The COVID relief fund ended in January and new relief is yet to be cleared in congress. “Our new challenge is to figure out how to replace those food sources,” says Starman, noting that their next course of action “remains to be seen.”
Looking ahead
Starman says that the pandemic has tempered her hopes in certain ways, but remains confident that they will continue with their mission, providing food for communities in need. “The pandemic brought into stark relief what a significant amount of our community lives day to day.” She notes that food is the most changeable part of an everyday American’s budget, and thus, in moments of financial insecurity, access to food can be seriously hurt. “It’s a lot to hear these people’s stories.”
For Starman, the most encouraging thing from this past year was the way people have banded together in support. “The generosity and thoughtfulness of people in our community… they’ve stepped forward in a big way.” Those who have been less affected by the pandemic have stepped forward in a big way. She was especially impressed by the number of people who donated their entire stimulus checks.
Communications Coordinator Lauren Grossman remarked further, praising the tenacity of Food Gatherers and their partners, adapting to the pandemic so effectively: “They did an amazing job. I think it shows what people are really capable of when they’re called to take action. Our team did it with such excellence and courage.”
As you might expect, Hope Clinic’s William Kangas has an optimistic outlook on the future: “The world is alive with hope if you just have eyes to see it.” Kangas says his faith plays an important role in the hope he feels, and that he’s seen the “Melody of Heaven” over this past year. “I was reading an email this morning about how our services gave a woman and her husband a future, and they’re giving back as donors because of that. That gives me hope.… When I hear from members of the staff that working here is a regular reminder their life has meaning, and that gives me hope.”
Throughout the struggles of the pandemic, Kangas reports that they’ve been able to extend their reach, providing support to a growing number of people. “We have a much bigger network of support now.” He looks forward to the restoration coming with the end of the pandemic. “Once we get over all the economic displacement that this has caused, I think we’re going to find a better world on the other side.”
Photo Credit: @thehopeclinicmi