Show Leftovers: Food Bank Donations Up
By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 11/8/2004
One outcome of the 20-percent annual rise in the number of North American food shows is that product donations to food banks are on the rise.
It was a record year for the America's Second Harvest Greater Chicago Food Depository. Spokeswoman Donna Larkin said the depository collected more than 500,000 pounds of food from close to 10 of the food shows that cycled through the city's McCormick Place. That is just over 1 percent of the 40 million pounds of food the depository receives each year, but it still puts a dent in feeding 91,000 needy area residents, Larkin added.
"It really does make a big difference in the lives of the hungry that we serve," she said.
The depository benefits most, Larkin said, from five food shows collocated at McCormick Place during the first week of May: The FMI Show (Food Marketing Institute), United Produce Expo & Conference, U.S. Food Export Showcase, All Things Organic and Intl. Fancy Food & Confection Show.
Nearly 270,000 pounds of food, including 92,000 pounds of produce, were delivered by the May collocated shows with the help of 300 of the depository's volunteers. The organization distributes 100,000 pounds of food each day to 600 individual area centers, including shelters, soup kitchens and programs for the elderly.
Nearly 20 percent of the food distributed by the ASH Community Food Bank of Clark County in Las Vegas comes from tradeshows, according to Debbie Evans, the organization's operations manager.
The NACS Show (Natl. Assn. of Convenience Stores), Oct. 18–20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, donated seven tractor-trailers of food to the food bank.
Larkin said high-quality products from food shows, including the NASFT Fancy Food Shows' gourmet products and the United Produce Expo & Conference's fruits and vegetables, are a welcome change from the typically drab canned goods distributed throughout the remainder of the year.
"It's a really wonderful offering," Larkin said. "It's food that we would not normally receive through a donation,"
Chris Nemchek, operations director for the Natl. Assn. for the Specialty Food Trade, said his organization's three annual Fancy Food shows, one on each coast and another in the Midwest, have donated products for years.
"It's really a no-brainer for exhibitors to make a worthwhile donation with their leftover food products after the show," he said.
The collocated All Asia Food Expo, Kosherfest and Expo Comida Latina Oct. 26–27 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center all donated to New York's City Harvest.
Jessica Brown, manager of food development for City Harvest, said she sends a letter to each exhibitor after each donation.
In conjunction with the Food Network, dmg world media is launching two editions of its Food Network's Great Big Food Show this month: Nov. 5–7 at Pennsylvania's Fort Washington Expo Center and Nov. 12–14 at the Intl. Exposition (I-X) Center in Cleveland.
Tom Baugh, dmg vice president of consumer food shows, said he has already arranged donations with food banks in the two cities.
