July 28, 2023 • 23 mins
Welcome to the Mi San Antonio Podcast, where your host Pedro Al Aire sits down with influential guests making a difference in the heart of Texas. In this episode, we are thrilled to have Eric S. Cooper, the esteemed President and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, joining us to shed light on a crucial initiative - the Summer Snacks for Kids Food Program.
Tune in as Pedro delves into Eric's inspiring journey and his tireless efforts in leading the fight against hunger in the community. With a shared passion for transforming lives, Pedro and Eric explore the program's impact, ensuring that no child goes hungry during the summer months.
Discover how the San Antonio Food Bank is bringing together local partners and dedicated volunteers to provide nutritious snacks to children in need, fostering a healthier and brighter future for the next generation.
Join us for an insightful conversation on the Mi San Antonio Podcast, as we gain valuable insights into the power of community-driven initiatives and the unwavering commitment to making a positive change in San Antonio. Don't miss this empowering episode as we all come together to support our kids' well-being.
Tune in as Pedro delves into Eric's inspiring journey and his tireless efforts in leading the fight against hunger in the community. With a shared passion for transforming lives, Pedro and Eric explore the program's impact, ensuring that no child goes hungry during the summer months.
Discover how the San Antonio Food Bank is bringing together local partners and dedicated volunteers to provide nutritious snacks to children in need, fostering a healthier and brighter future for the next generation.
Join us for an insightful conversation on the Mi San Antonio Podcast, as we gain valuable insights into the power of community-driven initiatives and the unwavering commitment to making a positive change in San Antonio. Don't miss this empowering episode as we all come together to support our kids' well-being.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
On all four or five Latino Hitsis putting the spotlight on you, San
Antonio and probably serving our community.This is the Me San Antonio Community Voices
podcast on iHeartRadio two ten maybe pincoWelcome to Me San Antonio podcast. A
(00:29):
podcast dedicated to the community of SanAntonio, helping and providing information to our
audience, to our community, umgetting you know, the help that folks
are looking for. Maybe don't knowwhere to look or where to start.
That's the point of this podcast isto get this information out there and hopefully
point point folks in the right direction. On this episode, I have the
(00:52):
pleasure of having in the studio havingon this podcast mister Eric S. Cooper,
President and CEO of the San AntonioFood Bank right here in San Antonio.
Eric, welcome to the podcast.Hey, thank you so much.
Pedro. It's so awesome to behere. Because little known trivia, I
am a big fan of one offour point five Latino Hids. That's right,
(01:15):
and we are recording this episode andthe one of four five Latino Hits
studios. We're surrounded by the LatinoHits logo. I have a couple of
artists cutouts in here. You haveBad Bunny to your right and mister Maluma
to your left, so you're surroundedby stars, not including myself. Hey,
I know I saw the Bad Bunnyand you know, give me some
Louis fonz and I am I amrocking man. So but I am so
(01:40):
excited to share a little bit moreabout what's happening at the San Antonio Food
Bank so listeners can get involved.It's fantastic. We'll jump into what's going
on with San Antonio Food Bank,but let's first talk about this major initiative
that has kicked off and is runningthrough the month of August. It's called
Summer Snack for Kids. Tell uswhat it's about and what Holley came about
(02:04):
pretty much. Well, you know, during the school year, school's doing
a maajing nut job of educating kids, but they're also providing breakfast and lunch
either free or to reduce price tochildren. When summer starts, kids get
out of school and now households don'thave that resource. Moms don't have the
support of that food. Kids arehome, they're just eating everything, and
(02:29):
so it's also a time where childcarecosts moms. You know, boy,
they've they've got to go to work, so they're trying to figure out what
to do with their kids. Utilitybills always a historic high. It's kind
of that perfect storm that puts familiesat a disadvantage and really creates a place
where kids go hungry. So theSan Antonio Food Bank works within twenty nine
(02:50):
counties and we're trying to make surethat those kids during the eleven weeks of
summer get access to good nutrition.So we run a huge summer meals program
that delivers meals out into the community. We want to make sure if a
listener has kids that have a need, that you reach out to us at
the Food Bank. You can goto our website or you can call our
(03:12):
hotline. We want to make sureyour kids are nourished if you have the
ability to help us nourish kids.This promotion, Summer Snacks for Kids,
is about donating kid friendly food items. You know, we're always collecting nonperishable
food items and can use anything,but this is really targeting things like you
(03:35):
know, peanut butter and jelly,I mean that goes a long way and
feeding kids. You know, anykind of cereal or you know pop top
item like an apple sauce, ora fruit cup. So we're so excited
to be partnered with Broadway Bank.They are big allies of the food Bank,
they support us in so many ways, but they're concerned about kids during
the summer too. So it wasa cool thing to be able to aligne
(03:58):
and then given up for people todonate. Now, a lot of folks
would say folks who don't have kids, right, that would say, ah,
eleven weeks, that's nothing, that'llbe fine, But no, eleven
weeks is a long time between theend of the school year and the beginning
of the school year, right,and one food gets expensive, especially if
you have you know, maybe morethan one kid, two kids, three
(04:20):
kids, right, And in ourcommunity, in the Hispanic community, it's
not just you know, your ownkids, right, if you're a parent,
it's not just your kids, butyou have maybe a sibling's kids,
right that you have to watch overor they get dropped off, maybe because
you're helping take care of the kidswhile your siblings are out working. So
now you have a household full oflittle ones, right, maybe three,
(04:42):
four or five kids running around andpreparing meals gets really costly. And so
if if not every adult in thehousehold is employed. Maybe it's just one
person. Those dollars they get stretchedand but sometimes it's not enough. So
that's that's where San Antonio Food Bankinto play. If I could share a
story with you real quick, apersonal story, I recall growing up before
(05:05):
the podcast, before we started recording, I was telling you that my mom
busted her butt working two jobs toraise us. She was a single mother.
I mean, my dad was kindof around. He was there,
but not really there. He wasn'tthere. So it was mom. Mom
was mom and dad, and sheworked two jobs. During the day,
she would clean houses and at nightshe would work at the airport. This
(05:28):
is back home in Arizona. I'mfrom Arizona originally, And so mom worked
for the company that prepared meals forflights. Right, So I think maybe
we'd spend an hour or two withmom or three a day when she was
awake, right, because in betweenjobs she'd had to sleep. And then
while Mom's asleep, I was themiddle child. My brother was the older
(05:49):
and he was out working, andmy sister was the baby. But there
had to be meals made, andeven though mom was working two jobs,
there wasn't always money, right orthe doll, you know you, she
couldn't even always stretch that dollar tomake sure we had enough in the fridge
or in the pantry and so forthright. I remember, quite often,
(06:11):
and I didn't think about this asa kid. Quite often, we actually
went to go get boxes of foodfrom the food bank in Phoenix, Arizona.
I would get up with my momearly morning, Saturday mornings. We'd
drive to this food bank and we'dsit in the car and wait in line
till it was our turn to pullup, and we get handed a box
of groceries. Yes, there wasnonperishable items in there, and if we
(06:34):
were lucky, we'd get some vegetablesand fruits here and there, maybe a
loaf or two of bread and thenboom, well on our way. And
you said, peanut butter. Yes, absolutely, there was always a thing
of Jiffy in there. Extra crunchywas my favorite, and I'd always make
sure to ask for it, andso that would be put in the box
(06:56):
and that would last us a goodwhile. But I never thought about that
as a kid. But I'm suremy mom is an adult and as a
parent would probably be stressed all thetime about where am I going to get
food this week or this month forthe kids. I go to the food
bank and hopefully we can walk awaywith some stuff there. I think now
(07:16):
in this is what twenty twenty three, I don't know if if a lot
of folks understand that this is stillavailable to them, and if they know
where to go to get a boxof food, and if there's still I
wonder if there's folks out there whokind of kind of and they shouldn't do
they feel a little like embarrassed,a little ashamed, which they shouldn't.
(07:43):
Right. Yeah, well number one, pitt Or, thank you so much
for sharing that and being being vulnerable. And you know, if listeners,
if you can see him now,you know, just getting to know you.
And I think that that success storyand the reality as we go through
seasons right, seasons of mee,seasons of prosperity, um, the opportunity
(08:03):
that the food bank has to kindof meet people in those crossroads. Uh.
You know, I think I sitin the intersection between where people have
something and people need something and we'rejust kind of brokering it. Right.
So so if you have something togive, UM, please do it because
it helps, you know, akid in a car with a mom that
(08:26):
is doing all they can to makeends meet but just fall short. Um,
why is peanut butter our number oneneeded item? It's because a households
like you grew up in, momsare working. Yeah, moms are working,
and it's usually a sibling that's preparinga meal for a younger sibling.
(08:48):
Yeah, you're making them, andyou know, mom doesn't have to worry
that you're messing with the stove andtrying to cook anything. You know,
but there's bread and peanut butter andjelly, and Um. I talked to
someone that like, yeah, Igrew up on jam sandwiches. We didn't
even have peanut butter. We justgot we just got two pieces of bread
and jam them together. And soI'm like, oh man, but you
(09:09):
know, ultimately, food is love, right, Gomeda, Right, it
is. It is all about nourishingour bodies. But you know, food
doesn't just nourish your body and nurishesyour soul. The texture, the flavor,
the variety of foods, it's ourtradition. It's what you know,
(09:30):
our parents taught us. All ofthat goes into those recipes that I think
when I think of families that justdon't even have the ingredients to pull together
a meal. They lose so much. And so it's such a privilege to
be able to to focus on nourishment, to be able to provide food to
(09:52):
kids, and to give people anopportunity to get involved. So the four
things that we need is food,time, money, and voice. So
food, you have an opportunity tostop by Broadway Bank, pick up a
box, and then fill that boxwith kid friendly food items and it will
make the difference for children. Youcan donate time, you come out and
(10:15):
volunteer. We make it really easy. You visit our website say foodbank dot
org, hit give help and volunteer. You'll learn about all of the kitchen
shifts where we're making those sandwiches andmeals for kids. You can bring your
family, your loved ones, yourcorporate group, your church, annie clubs
like. Just come and serve ina short amount of time. You'll make
(10:37):
a huge difference. The third thingis dollars. Now, we continue to
leverage a dollar pretty well, forevery one dollar we take in, we
can actually put out seven meals.You know what, that's a heck of
a return on the investment those economies. So please if you can donate.
I think we always get asked,you know, Eric, what's your administrative
(10:58):
overhead? If I give you adollar, how much of that actually goes
to those in need? Well,we are actually the most efficient nonprofit in
South Texas with just two percent aminute straight of overhead, so ninety eight
cents out of every dollar goes directlyto those in need. So, man,
we're doing everything we can to squeezethe buffalo off the nickel. Please,
(11:20):
if you can donate, do thatonline. The last thing is you're
hearing an amazing program right now,Share it, tag it, you know,
use your social media to get yourpeers involved. If you're passionate about
community, if you want to helpkids, this is a great way for
you to do your own campaign effortsto try to make sure no kid goes
(11:45):
hungry. And if you'll do that, I promise you you'll be blessed.
That opportunity for all of us togive sometimes is just so much more rewarding
than receiving, and that's what thiscampaign's all about. Yeah, or you
have a family member that you knowis going through some rough times, share
this podcast where to share the informationwith them. Athio whoever and make them
(12:07):
aware of this service. It's availablefor our community with the San Antonio Food
Bank. But let's come back tothe Summer Snack for Kids campaign, because
I mentioned a lot of folks maynot think eleven weeks that's nothing. Will
be fine, you know, thekids will be back to school. But
at the beginning of the podcast,we touched on yes, a lot of
families, a lot of families,and I will include myself in there.
(12:28):
When I was a kid, wedid depend on school lunches. That was
a big deal. I remember.I do recall at the beginning of the
school year, mom sitting down andfilling out the paperwork and proving how much
she makes, what her income is, and and of course she didn't make
a lot, so we could qualifyfor free lunch at school. And that
(12:50):
went a long way. And thenyes, summer comes along and oh all
right, what do we do?Bam you know a food Yeah, here
we go, and so uh thesethese uh the Summer Snack for Kids campaign
and uh, you know your donations, you who are listening to this podcast.
Your donation keeps kids at home fed, takes stress off the parents,
(13:16):
and uh it fills that gap untilthe beginning of the of the next school
year. What type of items weknow, I know we talked about peanut
butter and and you know pop topsand all that fun stuff. Um,
but there's a list printed on theseboxes that folks can pick up at any
Broadway bank and the sun on throwinga food bank. Correct, Like what
(13:37):
else is on that list? Yeah, so we make it super easy.
You stop in, you get thisempty box and printed on the box or
all the kid friendly food items thatwe're looking for. Again. You know,
Cereal feeds a lot of kids breakfast, right, that's a great thing.
But any kind of granola bars,um, you know, snack items
I mentioned pop top items. Thoseare just kind of easy, convenient things
(14:01):
that kids can just eat directly outof the cup. You know it is
it is anything that you would purchaseyour kids for your kids to eat.
That's what we need donated. Wecould always use core staple items like you
know, rice and beans, butyou know, boxed dinner type items,
macaroni and cheese, microwavable type fooditems. All of that stuff can go
(14:26):
a long way and making sure nokid goes hungry. You know, you
hit it. Those eleven weeks.Sometimes. You know, we we think
of the summer slide, the theyou know, child's learning, they're progressing,
and then all of a sudden,summer hits and they start the next
school year and they're behind. Well, oftentimes they're behind because of nutrition,
(14:50):
Yeah, inability to focus because man, I'm not worried about what you're teaching.
I'm worried about when lunches. Yeah, and if a child is food
in to cure, that can oftentimeslead to eating disorders because they don't know
when their next meal is coming.So the tendency to binge. You know,
(15:11):
there's a direct correlation to obesity andfood insecurity. San Antonio is a
high rate of heart disease, chronicdiseases like diabetes. So if we can
nourish, we can curb a lotof those other health issues. Your story
reminded me of why we started asummer program, and about twenty years ago,
(15:37):
I got a call from a principalwho said, look, Eric,
you know, I've got these threeboys at our school and they're all amazing.
Two of them do really well academically. One struggles and you know,
had to go to summer school.And you know, as as a school.
We have about four weeks into summerthat we do summer school, so
(16:00):
school events. Yeah, this isthe one boy had to come. The
other two got to enjoy their summer. And he says, the next year,
um, all three kids UM endedup in summer school. And and
he's like, man, the othertwo were doing really well and and so
(16:22):
he thought there must be something goingon at home and UM, and so
he pulled him in just to talkto him, and he's like, hey,
what's what's happening in your home life? You guys? Okay? Um?
And and you know what's up withyour grades? And and they said,
no, we're good, you know, Principal, we're good. And
they said, well, you know, the three of you were in summer
(16:45):
school this year, and uh,you know obviously you didn't. You didn't
do what you needed to do duringthe school year, and we want to
get you getting it done so youdon't have to go to summer school.
And the oldest brother that again anddone well academically until that year, said,
well, um, we saw thatour brother got meals during the summer
(17:14):
and uh, and we didn't.And you know, we you know,
we thought if if we don't pass, we get fed and and so it's
great to come and get meals.And so man, this principle was like,
this is messed up, Like,you know, kids shouldn't want to,
(17:36):
kids shouldn't want to you know,tank their grades just so they can
eat. Yeah, you know,And so what's going on in the community.
How can we get these kids fed? Um? How can we get
them really progressing? And so look, we're committed to do the nutrition during
the summer. And you know,I you know, I said the principle,
(17:56):
just keep doing your job to educateand we'll figure out out how to
make sure that those kids at homeget nourished. And it's such a privilege
to be a part of that.Folks that are listening to this podcast and
they want to participate, they wantto donate to the San Antonio Food Bank
during summer Snack for Kids or evenbeyond summer Snack for Kids. These boxes
that they can pick up at theBroadway Bank. You can put anything in
(18:19):
there as nutritious and of course somethingthat will last quite a while, right,
nonperishables and whatnot. Yeah. No, and you your experience is so
amazing because it highlights a lot ofour work and what we try to do.
Most people are surprised to learn thatforty percent of what we distribute as
fresh produce. So we just believethere's nothing better that we could be giving
(18:41):
families. We absolutely believe that allfood has value. And uh, you
know, I'm thinking of our greatpartnerships and donors like Freedola and PepsiCo and
they you know, it's the solutionto hunger is the right food, right
them out, right time. Andyou know, talkies are great, but
(19:02):
it's just sometimes food you shouldn't beeating it all the time. And what
ends up happening with households that havea limited budget, they invoke coping strategies
and they buy a lot of carbsand starches and cheaper foods because they're concerned
about filling the belly. And whenyou're when you're shopping for those kind of
(19:25):
food items, it impacts the longterm health of a child. There's there's
four big barriers to good nutrition.Income is the biggest driver, so how
much you make determines how well youeat. Geography is the second. Where
do you live do you have accessto food? You could live in a
food desert. You might have totravel too far so bodegas and just convenience
(19:45):
stores become where you shop. Educationis the third big barrier. You might
have access to fresh produce, butyou don't know how to prepare it.
You can't cook, you know,and so really learning those skills. The
fourth big barrier is the commerce offood, right, It's the advertising.
It's oftentimes the food that's most accessible, closest to us sometimes can be the
(20:12):
least expensive and taste like heaven.Think of fast food again, the convenience
store, dakis and a big redright like like it is, and it's
crazy, right, the larger thecup of soda, the cheaper it is.
We're like, wait a minute,how does this work? But you
(20:33):
know, all food as values,so you know, hey, listen,
just it's moderation. It's moderation.We have these foods for some time,
but we need to make sure thatwe're always eating the types of foods that
help our bodies grow healthy and strong. And that's what we're trying to do
at the food Bank is really tryingto nourish. But we can't do it
(20:56):
without the help of San Antonio.Please, if you can come volunteer,
we're desperate. Summer sometimes is atime of distraction and people are busy,
and so please don't forget us.Come take a shift. If you can
donate through Broadways Summer Snack for Kids. It's easy, just it's a cool
thing to do with your family,Like with your kids, to teach them
(21:21):
to be mindful of others, tohelp others. You can get that box,
go to h GB shop the aisles, fill the box and have a
conversation with your kids. Maybe youtoo have a story. When you grew
up, things were tough and youryour kids don't know that right they're they're
living a privileged life because of yourhard work. Keep keep them connected and
(21:48):
grounded and serving others this time ofpost pandemic mental health stress. I do
believe the way to bring balance andmental healing is serving others. There's there's
purpose in it. It's it's whenyou're helping someone else go through their trial.
You think of your trial being man, mine's small, yours is.
(22:11):
I'm just glad I don't have yourissues right and it's just a great way
to ground yourself and your family.So please help us out. Eric,
thank you so much. The SummerSnack for Kids drive is happening now through
August eleventh, But you could alwaysdonate to the San Antonio Food Bank at
any time, and you can alsovolunteer and help and make a difference in
(22:34):
not just your neighborhood, bit inour community as a whole. Eric,
thank you so much for being onthis podcast and sharing more information that I
actually knew I was available there andwhat everything that is San Antonio Food Bank
does, so thank you so much. Well, thank you so much.
Take care. All right, Thisis me San Antonio with Eric S.
(22:56):
Cooper, President CEO of the SanAntonio Food Bank. This was another Me
san Antonio Community Voices podcast from oneoh four to five Latino Hits. Don't
forget to share this podcast with afriend. iHeartRadio and one h four five
Latino Hits probably serve our San Antoniocommunity.
On all four or five Latino Hitsis putting the spotlight on you, San
Antonio and probably serving our community.This is the Me San Antonio Community Voices
podcast on iHeartRadio two ten maybe pincoWelcome to Me San Antonio podcast. A
(00:29):
podcast dedicated to the community of SanAntonio, helping and providing information to our
audience, to our community, umgetting you know, the help that folks
are looking for. Maybe don't knowwhere to look or where to start.
That's the point of this podcast isto get this information out there and hopefully
point point folks in the right direction. On this episode, I have the
(00:52):
pleasure of having in the studio havingon this podcast mister Eric S. Cooper,
President and CEO of the San AntonioFood Bank right here in San Antonio.
Eric, welcome to the podcast.Hey, thank you so much.
Pedro. It's so awesome to behere. Because little known trivia, I
am a big fan of one offour point five Latino Hids. That's right,
(01:15):
and we are recording this episode andthe one of four five Latino Hits
studios. We're surrounded by the LatinoHits logo. I have a couple of
artists cutouts in here. You haveBad Bunny to your right and mister Maluma
to your left, so you're surroundedby stars, not including myself. Hey,
I know I saw the Bad Bunnyand you know, give me some
Louis fonz and I am I amrocking man. So but I am so
(01:40):
excited to share a little bit moreabout what's happening at the San Antonio Food
Bank so listeners can get involved.It's fantastic. We'll jump into what's going
on with San Antonio Food Bank,but let's first talk about this major initiative
that has kicked off and is runningthrough the month of August. It's called
Summer Snack for Kids. Tell uswhat it's about and what Holley came about
(02:04):
pretty much. Well, you know, during the school year, school's doing
a maajing nut job of educating kids, but they're also providing breakfast and lunch
either free or to reduce price tochildren. When summer starts, kids get
out of school and now households don'thave that resource. Moms don't have the
support of that food. Kids arehome, they're just eating everything, and
(02:29):
so it's also a time where childcarecosts moms. You know, boy,
they've they've got to go to work, so they're trying to figure out what
to do with their kids. Utilitybills always a historic high. It's kind
of that perfect storm that puts familiesat a disadvantage and really creates a place
where kids go hungry. So theSan Antonio Food Bank works within twenty nine
(02:50):
counties and we're trying to make surethat those kids during the eleven weeks of
summer get access to good nutrition.So we run a huge summer meals program
that delivers meals out into the community. We want to make sure if a
listener has kids that have a need, that you reach out to us at
the Food Bank. You can goto our website or you can call our
(03:12):
hotline. We want to make sureyour kids are nourished if you have the
ability to help us nourish kids.This promotion, Summer Snacks for Kids,
is about donating kid friendly food items. You know, we're always collecting nonperishable
food items and can use anything,but this is really targeting things like you
(03:35):
know, peanut butter and jelly,I mean that goes a long way and
feeding kids. You know, anykind of cereal or you know pop top
item like an apple sauce, ora fruit cup. So we're so excited
to be partnered with Broadway Bank.They are big allies of the food Bank,
they support us in so many ways, but they're concerned about kids during
the summer too. So it wasa cool thing to be able to aligne
(03:58):
and then given up for people todonate. Now, a lot of folks
would say folks who don't have kids, right, that would say, ah,
eleven weeks, that's nothing, that'llbe fine, But no, eleven
weeks is a long time between theend of the school year and the beginning
of the school year, right,and one food gets expensive, especially if
you have you know, maybe morethan one kid, two kids, three
(04:20):
kids, right, And in ourcommunity, in the Hispanic community, it's
not just you know, your ownkids, right, if you're a parent,
it's not just your kids, butyou have maybe a sibling's kids,
right that you have to watch overor they get dropped off, maybe because
you're helping take care of the kidswhile your siblings are out working. So
now you have a household full oflittle ones, right, maybe three,
(04:42):
four or five kids running around andpreparing meals gets really costly. And so
if if not every adult in thehousehold is employed. Maybe it's just one
person. Those dollars they get stretchedand but sometimes it's not enough. So
that's that's where San Antonio Food Bankinto play. If I could share a
story with you real quick, apersonal story, I recall growing up before
(05:05):
the podcast, before we started recording, I was telling you that my mom
busted her butt working two jobs toraise us. She was a single mother.
I mean, my dad was kindof around. He was there,
but not really there. He wasn'tthere. So it was mom. Mom
was mom and dad, and sheworked two jobs. During the day,
she would clean houses and at nightshe would work at the airport. This
(05:28):
is back home in Arizona. I'mfrom Arizona originally, And so mom worked
for the company that prepared meals forflights. Right, So I think maybe
we'd spend an hour or two withmom or three a day when she was
awake, right, because in betweenjobs she'd had to sleep. And then
while Mom's asleep, I was themiddle child. My brother was the older
(05:49):
and he was out working, andmy sister was the baby. But there
had to be meals made, andeven though mom was working two jobs,
there wasn't always money, right orthe doll, you know you, she
couldn't even always stretch that dollar tomake sure we had enough in the fridge
or in the pantry and so forthright. I remember, quite often,
(06:11):
and I didn't think about this asa kid. Quite often, we actually
went to go get boxes of foodfrom the food bank in Phoenix, Arizona.
I would get up with my momearly morning, Saturday mornings. We'd
drive to this food bank and we'dsit in the car and wait in line
till it was our turn to pullup, and we get handed a box
of groceries. Yes, there wasnonperishable items in there, and if we
(06:34):
were lucky, we'd get some vegetablesand fruits here and there, maybe a
loaf or two of bread and thenboom, well on our way. And
you said, peanut butter. Yes, absolutely, there was always a thing
of Jiffy in there. Extra crunchywas my favorite, and I'd always make
sure to ask for it, andso that would be put in the box
(06:56):
and that would last us a goodwhile. But I never thought about that
as a kid. But I'm suremy mom is an adult and as a
parent would probably be stressed all thetime about where am I going to get
food this week or this month forthe kids. I go to the food
bank and hopefully we can walk awaywith some stuff there. I think now
(07:16):
in this is what twenty twenty three, I don't know if if a lot
of folks understand that this is stillavailable to them, and if they know
where to go to get a boxof food, and if there's still I
wonder if there's folks out there whokind of kind of and they shouldn't do
they feel a little like embarrassed,a little ashamed, which they shouldn't.
(07:43):
Right. Yeah, well number one, pitt Or, thank you so much
for sharing that and being being vulnerable. And you know, if listeners,
if you can see him now,you know, just getting to know you.
And I think that that success storyand the reality as we go through
seasons right, seasons of mee,seasons of prosperity, um, the opportunity
(08:03):
that the food bank has to kindof meet people in those crossroads. Uh.
You know, I think I sitin the intersection between where people have
something and people need something and we'rejust kind of brokering it. Right.
So so if you have something togive, UM, please do it because
it helps, you know, akid in a car with a mom that
(08:26):
is doing all they can to makeends meet but just fall short. Um,
why is peanut butter our number oneneeded item? It's because a households
like you grew up in, momsare working. Yeah, moms are working,
and it's usually a sibling that's preparinga meal for a younger sibling.
(08:48):
Yeah, you're making them, andyou know, mom doesn't have to worry
that you're messing with the stove andtrying to cook anything. You know,
but there's bread and peanut butter andjelly, and Um. I talked to
someone that like, yeah, Igrew up on jam sandwiches. We didn't
even have peanut butter. We justgot we just got two pieces of bread
and jam them together. And soI'm like, oh man, but you
(09:09):
know, ultimately, food is love, right, Gomeda, Right, it
is. It is all about nourishingour bodies. But you know, food
doesn't just nourish your body and nurishesyour soul. The texture, the flavor,
the variety of foods, it's ourtradition. It's what you know,
(09:30):
our parents taught us. All ofthat goes into those recipes that I think
when I think of families that justdon't even have the ingredients to pull together
a meal. They lose so much. And so it's such a privilege to
be able to to focus on nourishment, to be able to provide food to
(09:52):
kids, and to give people anopportunity to get involved. So the four
things that we need is food,time, money, and voice. So
food, you have an opportunity tostop by Broadway Bank, pick up a
box, and then fill that boxwith kid friendly food items and it will
make the difference for children. Youcan donate time, you come out and
(10:15):
volunteer. We make it really easy. You visit our website say foodbank dot
org, hit give help and volunteer. You'll learn about all of the kitchen
shifts where we're making those sandwiches andmeals for kids. You can bring your
family, your loved ones, yourcorporate group, your church, annie clubs
like. Just come and serve ina short amount of time. You'll make
(10:37):
a huge difference. The third thingis dollars. Now, we continue to
leverage a dollar pretty well, forevery one dollar we take in, we
can actually put out seven meals.You know what, that's a heck of
a return on the investment those economies. So please if you can donate.
I think we always get asked,you know, Eric, what's your administrative
(10:58):
overhead? If I give you adollar, how much of that actually goes
to those in need? Well,we are actually the most efficient nonprofit in
South Texas with just two percent aminute straight of overhead, so ninety eight
cents out of every dollar goes directlyto those in need. So, man,
we're doing everything we can to squeezethe buffalo off the nickel. Please,
(11:20):
if you can donate, do thatonline. The last thing is you're
hearing an amazing program right now,Share it, tag it, you know,
use your social media to get yourpeers involved. If you're passionate about
community, if you want to helpkids, this is a great way for
you to do your own campaign effortsto try to make sure no kid goes
(11:45):
hungry. And if you'll do that, I promise you you'll be blessed.
That opportunity for all of us togive sometimes is just so much more rewarding
than receiving, and that's what thiscampaign's all about. Yeah, or you
have a family member that you knowis going through some rough times, share
this podcast where to share the informationwith them. Athio whoever and make them
(12:07):
aware of this service. It's availablefor our community with the San Antonio Food
Bank. But let's come back tothe Summer Snack for Kids campaign, because
I mentioned a lot of folks maynot think eleven weeks that's nothing. Will
be fine, you know, thekids will be back to school. But
at the beginning of the podcast,we touched on yes, a lot of
families, a lot of families,and I will include myself in there.
(12:28):
When I was a kid, wedid depend on school lunches. That was
a big deal. I remember.I do recall at the beginning of the
school year, mom sitting down andfilling out the paperwork and proving how much
she makes, what her income is, and and of course she didn't make
a lot, so we could qualifyfor free lunch at school. And that
(12:50):
went a long way. And thenyes, summer comes along and oh all
right, what do we do?Bam you know a food Yeah, here
we go, and so uh thesethese uh the Summer Snack for Kids campaign
and uh, you know your donations, you who are listening to this podcast.
Your donation keeps kids at home fed, takes stress off the parents,
(13:16):
and uh it fills that gap untilthe beginning of the of the next school
year. What type of items weknow, I know we talked about peanut
butter and and you know pop topsand all that fun stuff. Um,
but there's a list printed on theseboxes that folks can pick up at any
Broadway bank and the sun on throwinga food bank. Correct, Like what
(13:37):
else is on that list? Yeah, so we make it super easy.
You stop in, you get thisempty box and printed on the box or
all the kid friendly food items thatwe're looking for. Again. You know,
Cereal feeds a lot of kids breakfast, right, that's a great thing.
But any kind of granola bars,um, you know, snack items
I mentioned pop top items. Thoseare just kind of easy, convenient things
(14:01):
that kids can just eat directly outof the cup. You know it is
it is anything that you would purchaseyour kids for your kids to eat.
That's what we need donated. Wecould always use core staple items like you
know, rice and beans, butyou know, boxed dinner type items,
macaroni and cheese, microwavable type fooditems. All of that stuff can go
(14:26):
a long way and making sure nokid goes hungry. You know, you
hit it. Those eleven weeks.Sometimes. You know, we we think
of the summer slide, the theyou know, child's learning, they're progressing,
and then all of a sudden,summer hits and they start the next
school year and they're behind. Well, oftentimes they're behind because of nutrition,
(14:50):
Yeah, inability to focus because man, I'm not worried about what you're teaching.
I'm worried about when lunches. Yeah, and if a child is food
in to cure, that can oftentimeslead to eating disorders because they don't know
when their next meal is coming.So the tendency to binge. You know,
(15:11):
there's a direct correlation to obesity andfood insecurity. San Antonio is a
high rate of heart disease, chronicdiseases like diabetes. So if we can
nourish, we can curb a lotof those other health issues. Your story
reminded me of why we started asummer program, and about twenty years ago,
(15:37):
I got a call from a principalwho said, look, Eric,
you know, I've got these threeboys at our school and they're all amazing.
Two of them do really well academically. One struggles and you know,
had to go to summer school.And you know, as as a school.
We have about four weeks into summerthat we do summer school, so
(16:00):
school events. Yeah, this isthe one boy had to come. The
other two got to enjoy their summer. And he says, the next year,
um, all three kids UM endedup in summer school. And and
he's like, man, the othertwo were doing really well and and so
(16:22):
he thought there must be something goingon at home and UM, and so
he pulled him in just to talkto him, and he's like, hey,
what's what's happening in your home life? You guys? Okay? Um?
And and you know what's up withyour grades? And and they said,
no, we're good, you know, Principal, we're good. And
they said, well, you know, the three of you were in summer
(16:45):
school this year, and uh,you know obviously you didn't. You didn't
do what you needed to do duringthe school year, and we want to
get you getting it done so youdon't have to go to summer school.
And the oldest brother that again anddone well academically until that year, said,
well, um, we saw thatour brother got meals during the summer
(17:14):
and uh, and we didn't.And you know, we you know,
we thought if if we don't pass, we get fed and and so it's
great to come and get meals.And so man, this principle was like,
this is messed up, Like,you know, kids shouldn't want to,
(17:36):
kids shouldn't want to you know,tank their grades just so they can
eat. Yeah, you know,And so what's going on in the community.
How can we get these kids fed? Um? How can we get
them really progressing? And so look, we're committed to do the nutrition during
the summer. And you know,I you know, I said the principle,
(17:56):
just keep doing your job to educateand we'll figure out out how to
make sure that those kids at homeget nourished. And it's such a privilege
to be a part of that.Folks that are listening to this podcast and
they want to participate, they wantto donate to the San Antonio Food Bank
during summer Snack for Kids or evenbeyond summer Snack for Kids. These boxes
that they can pick up at theBroadway Bank. You can put anything in
(18:19):
there as nutritious and of course somethingthat will last quite a while, right,
nonperishables and whatnot. Yeah. No, and you your experience is so
amazing because it highlights a lot ofour work and what we try to do.
Most people are surprised to learn thatforty percent of what we distribute as
fresh produce. So we just believethere's nothing better that we could be giving
(18:41):
families. We absolutely believe that allfood has value. And uh, you
know, I'm thinking of our greatpartnerships and donors like Freedola and PepsiCo and
they you know, it's the solutionto hunger is the right food, right
them out, right time. Andyou know, talkies are great, but
(19:02):
it's just sometimes food you shouldn't beeating it all the time. And what
ends up happening with households that havea limited budget, they invoke coping strategies
and they buy a lot of carbsand starches and cheaper foods because they're concerned
about filling the belly. And whenyou're when you're shopping for those kind of
(19:25):
food items, it impacts the longterm health of a child. There's there's
four big barriers to good nutrition.Income is the biggest driver, so how
much you make determines how well youeat. Geography is the second. Where
do you live do you have accessto food? You could live in a
food desert. You might have totravel too far so bodegas and just convenience
(19:45):
stores become where you shop. Educationis the third big barrier. You might
have access to fresh produce, butyou don't know how to prepare it.
You can't cook, you know,and so really learning those skills. The
fourth big barrier is the commerce offood, right, It's the advertising.
It's oftentimes the food that's most accessible, closest to us sometimes can be the
(20:12):
least expensive and taste like heaven.Think of fast food again, the convenience
store, dakis and a big redright like like it is, and it's
crazy, right, the larger thecup of soda, the cheaper it is.
We're like, wait a minute,how does this work? But you
(20:33):
know, all food as values,so you know, hey, listen,
just it's moderation. It's moderation.We have these foods for some time,
but we need to make sure thatwe're always eating the types of foods that
help our bodies grow healthy and strong. And that's what we're trying to do
at the food Bank is really tryingto nourish. But we can't do it
(20:56):
without the help of San Antonio.Please, if you can come volunteer,
we're desperate. Summer sometimes is atime of distraction and people are busy,
and so please don't forget us.Come take a shift. If you can
donate through Broadways Summer Snack for Kids. It's easy, just it's a cool
thing to do with your family,Like with your kids, to teach them
(21:21):
to be mindful of others, tohelp others. You can get that box,
go to h GB shop the aisles, fill the box and have a
conversation with your kids. Maybe youtoo have a story. When you grew
up, things were tough and youryour kids don't know that right they're they're
living a privileged life because of yourhard work. Keep keep them connected and
(21:48):
grounded and serving others this time ofpost pandemic mental health stress. I do
believe the way to bring balance andmental healing is serving others. There's there's
purpose in it. It's it's whenyou're helping someone else go through their trial.
You think of your trial being man, mine's small, yours is.
(22:11):
I'm just glad I don't have yourissues right and it's just a great way
to ground yourself and your family.So please help us out. Eric,
thank you so much. The SummerSnack for Kids drive is happening now through
August eleventh, But you could alwaysdonate to the San Antonio Food Bank at
any time, and you can alsovolunteer and help and make a difference in
(22:34):
not just your neighborhood, bit inour community as a whole. Eric,
thank you so much for being onthis podcast and sharing more information that I
actually knew I was available there andwhat everything that is San Antonio Food Bank
does, so thank you so much. Well, thank you so much.
Take care. All right, Thisis me San Antonio with Eric S.
(22:56):
Cooper, President CEO of the SanAntonio Food Bank. This was another Me
san Antonio Community Voices podcast from oneoh four to five Latino Hits. Don't
forget to share this podcast with afriend. iHeartRadio and one h four five
Latino Hits probably serve our San Antoniocommunity.
Popular Podcasts
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!