Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 24, 1992 TAG: 9201240376
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEEDIEST LINE UP FOR FREE FOOD
Ron and Robin Roop didn't think it would come to this.But with Ron out of work the past six months and with Robin getting her work hours cut at Kentucky Fried Chicken, standing in line for free food Thursday was the only way.
So what if it was pouring rain outside? It's what they had to do to feed their four kids.
"Until I find a job, we're pretty much in the hole," Ron Roop said as he filled his box with rice, butter, cheese and canned vegetables. "I wonder if it's going to get worse or it's going to get better."
The Roops were among more than 3,000 Roanokers to receive free food this Tuesday through Thursday at the National Guard armory on Reserve Avenue through the People began lining up at 5 a.m. Wednesday. By 8 a.m., the line stretched out to Franklin Road a block away. More than 1,200 people picked up food each day, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Thursday, hundreds more braved a downpour to drag their garbage bags and soggy boxes of food through the rain to their cars.
The food-giveaway, also known as Commodity Foods, is administered by the Social Services Department and paid for with federal Agriculture Department funds, according to food coordinator Charlie Brown. It takes place four times each year.
By whatever name, it's a popular event for Roanoke's neediest people. And by some accounts, it's becoming more popular due to the economy.
The Roops, for example, are first-timers.
They've never been to the food giveaway before and never thought they'd need to. But Ron Roop lost his painting job last summer and no one has hired him since. Robin Roop still works at the fast-food restaurant, but they cut her hours back from 38, then to 35, then to 30.
"Probably next week it'll go to 25," she said.
The Roops' tough times have been tougher this year than ever. But they try to protect their kids from that. So far, so good.
"I don't think they really notice it. As long as they eat good and play, they don't notice it," Ron Roop said.
And the free food certainly helps.
Eva Boyden had never come to the giveaway before, either, but she had to do so Wednesday. "I don't have a job," she said.
Those who showed up got a little more this time than in past giveaways. Sometimes, they give out only canned goods, butter, flour, sugar and a few other items worth a total of about $7. This time, volunteers handed out long sticks of American cheese, worth more than $20. Each person left with what would have been worth $30 to $35 at the grocery store.
"I can make all kinds of stuff with that," Loretta Mize said while waiting in line outside the armory. She said she was drawn to the giveaway this year because of the cheese.
People qualify for the free food based on their incomes. Charlie Brown, who has run the giveaway for three years, said more people have been qualifying lately.
"It started to accelerate about the time [President] Bush said we're not in a recession," he said. "The economy is drastically affecting this . . . in spite of Mr. Bush."
But there's never enough food, he said.
Each family gets one can of green beens. "I eat more than that in one sitting," he said.
Dallas Sturgill, who has been coming for years to the food giveaway, said he's seen a lot more people this year than in past years.
"There's some faces I've never seen here before," he said.
And that's probably because people can't find jobs. That's one reason he was there, he said.
"Jobs around here are almost impossible to find, unless you want to be a Whopper flopper," Sturgill said, referring to a fast-food job.