There are many suggesting that the recession that officially started in December 2007 officially came to an end in June 2009. However, if anything we are seeing more and more people access the food banks across this country of ours.

The rising cost of utilities and increased co-pays for health insurance are stretching family budgets and many that have never used the food banks are doing so. Many working families are not fully employed; they’re not earning wages to afford nutritious food. Employment is not a guarantee against hunger.

Complicating matters even more for the food banks has been the emergence of a new type of store that competes with the food banks for surplus food.

The Good Cheer food bank has always prided itself on being unique and creative. Using the thrifts stores to generate the funds to buy the food is a novel idea and one that more food banks should explore. The points system and grocery store atmosphere at Good Cheer is empowering to our clients.

Rather than picking up a bag of food the client picks the food items their family needs for the month. There is a pride issue about coming to a food bank; having to admit to your family that you’re not making ends meet. We try to make that transition easier.

Creative shopping is helping the Good Cheer Food Bank rise above many of these issues and we’re a better organization because of it!

The story begins with Ula Lewis. Remember that saying about the actions of a few changing the world?

Ula who is a coupon shopper had a discussion, awhile back, with Damien Cortez the Good Cheer Food Bank Coordinator. Ula was getting some of her food for free and asked Damien if the food bank could use it!  Damien saw the value of what she was doing and started giving Ula some funds; Good Cheer could use the savings and free food always comes in handy!

This is where the idea of creative shopping comes into play, it is “thinking outside of the box” as Damien would say. “We were dealing with a tough recession and some of our food resources were going elsewhere; our logistics needed to be rearranged” says Damien.

The creative buying program of using coupons continued to grow. Ula and friends would go to grocery stores with their coupons, purchase merchandise, stand in line to checkout and then do it again and again. The reason for doing the shopping over and over was because there were coupon limits.

Ula began to develop relationships with the store managers and this provided the food bank with a real bonus, coupons with no limits. She would make sure that she would not deplete any one store of their supply of product through her use of the coupons and I think this helped in her relationship building. Now they have a checker that works specifically with her or an associate to streamline the process!

Ula found that she could work with the store managers and they could bring in extra coupon or rebate merchandise for the food bank. Bob Drennen the store manager at Albertsons in Oak Harbor says that coupon programs are a “win-win” situation since the individual stores receive money back from the manufacturer on coupons that are used. The stores essentially receive full value. Coupons are a way of enticing people to come to their stores and in times like these a way for the store to help the community.

Coupons are wonderful tools that many of us don’t take advantage of. The use of food stamps and coupons can dramatically increase the amount of food that you can buy. There is a need to teach people how to shop differently; if you don’t need a coupon item now just put it in the pantry.

Here are a few of the stores that work with Good Cheer; Haggens Food And Drug in Burlington, QFC in Everett, Albertsons in Oak Harbor, Saars Market Place Foods in Oak Harbor, Payless Foods in Freeland and the Goose Community Grocer in Bayview. We are finding that we are saving 75% off of the retail price on average.

Coupons can have a major impact on local food banks; at Good Cheer 25-35% of our food comes from the use of coupons and rebates.

There a number of benefits that are derived from couponing. We can preview the sources and look for those items that are the healthiest for our clients. Saving money through the use of coupons and rebates have affected other parts of our operation; the savings allow us to have more flexibility and gives us the ability to make choices when filling holes.

We can have certain staples on hand at all times. Having cooking oil, mayonnaise, mustard and catsup are important since they are part of the food preparation.

Like Damien says “Food banks need to think outside of the box. Instead of waiting for the food to come to them they need to be creative.”

The success story that we are having has opened up help from the community; they bring us coupons! Being creative and making things work encourages community participation.

Here is a last thought. Good Cheer and you can donate expired coupons to military families through American Legion Post 141.  They are allowed to use expired coupons up to 1 year after the expiration date on base and at the commissaries abroad. Every coupon that we don’t use goes to the American Legion and is sent to Germany. The one thing that we hate to do is to throw away an expired coupon and now we NEVER have to!

Good Clipping and Cheer!