Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Senior Center continues commodity distribution

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Commodities program has been going on at the Central Arkansas Development Committee (CADC) Senior Adult Center in Gurdon for many years and it continues to grow.

Royce Barbaree, Center director, said it has gone on for the six years she has been associated with the center, plus she knows it was in existence here long before that. Although no exact date of distribution is currently available, she said the next commodity program day "will most likely be sometime in May."

Barbaree said, "We gave away our commodities on Feb. 16 and will do so again in about three months. The date will be announced two to four weeks ahead of time. There are economic guidelines to the program, but if you think you may be eligible you probably are. We invite everyone to come to the center and sign up."

As to the recent distribution, items included pink salmon, whole kernel corn, green beans, rice, instant milk, instant potatoes, tomato soup, pinto beans, peaches, apricots and more.

"The rice and beans together make a good, high fiber meal," she said. "There may be times we will still get the famous commodities of butter and cheese. The idea of this program is to help families stretch their grocery budgets when they have exhausted other avenues to do so. Each family gets the same amount and our agency makes us keep very strict records of the food that goes out of here, but the amounts are generous and helpful to the grocery budget."

Families are welcome to come to the Gurdon center anytime before the distribution, answer a few questions and get their eligibility card. Barbaree said families can even sign up on the day of the event and if enough extra food has been sent, they are welcome to the appointed portion.

"If they are smart, this food will last awhile," she said. "It is a useful and needful program that provides a lot  especially if your cupboards are bare. The families bring in their eligibility cards on the afternoon of distribution, when the pallets are here."

According to Barbaree, 21 new families signed up this go-around and received food. There were already 151 eligible families signed up who also received the commodities allotment.

"On the day of distribution, we have an assembly line," Barbaree said. "Each family gets the same amount of food in the boxes going out of here, regardless of how many are in the family. We distribute the same amount per family unit, and account for every morsel we give. If an eligibility card needs updating, we take care of that, get them their food and they can be on their way."

Barbaree said nobody can come and get the commodity allotment twice during one distribution. If you come to get it for someone not able to be there, who is eligible, you have to have a signed note from the person approved to receive.

"This time we were able to give three cans of salmon and two big 2-pound bags of rice to each family," she said. "This can stretch a long ways. For example, one can of salmon easily makes two, nice-sized salmon paddies. The items vary at each distribution. In the beginning, a lot of butter and cheese was distributed through this program. I have heard many of the recipients say it is some of the best butter and cheese you will ever get."

On the day of distribution, the center gets the food out from 9-11 a.m., and then again from 1-3 p.m. In February, not all of the commodities were given out here. The amount left over was transferred to the Benton CADC office for distribution. Everlyn Reed is the commodities coordinator at Benton.

"She picked those up," Barbaree said. "This program is going to make sure the people who receive are the people who need. Again, never assume you don't qualify. For example, a family of one can make a $1,000 a month and still get the commodities. Very rarely has anyone come in over the income level. Usually, our food is gone quickly."

Barbaree said the USDA program distributes a large quantity of food to a lot of people in Gurdon and elsewhere.

"I hope they enjoy it because this program is a big advantage to our community," she said. "To get involved, I would say the first step would be to call us after Easter if you want to know the next date of distribution. We will give it out as soon as we know it. By the way, our next big party here for center members will be at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, March 25, just before Easter."

Of the commodity sign-up procedure, Barbaree said if a family is interested and thinks it is eligible, someone need to come to the Senior Adult Center and find out.

"Getting a card for commodities is usually a short and painless process," Barbaree said.