Food Bank Short Of Funds, Not Friends For A Month, St. Vincent De Paul Will Relieve Strapped Coeur D’Alene Center, Which Serves 12,000 North Idaho Families

The North Idaho Community Action Agency has lost its appeal to keep state funding, and St. Vincent de Paul has been chosen to take over temporarily the financially troubled agency’s food bank.

Meanwhile, the food bank’s former supervisor has been left wondering whether he and 11 other employees will be paid for last month’s work.

The food bank’s new location, which could open as early as this afternoon, is at 1321 N. First. Volunteers and two paid state employees are transferring food items this morning from the old location.

“We have lots of work to do,” said Lynn Peterson, St. Vincent de Paul’s executive director. “It’s overwhelming. We just got the call yesterday afternoon.”

That St. Vincent’s is taking over comes as welcome news for the 12,000 families - some 60 percent of them with children - who use the food bank every year.

St. Vincent’s likely will operate the food bank for only a month. A Lewiston nonprofit group, Community Action Agency, is expected to take over permanent operation of the food bank here, as well as four others in Benewah, Shoshone, Bonner, and Boundary counties.

That group already has assumed the reins of a low-income home weatherization program, also run previously by the North Idaho Community Action Agency.

To prepare for this additional move, the Lewiston agency has planned a series of community meetings in each of the five North Idaho counties next month to help its board of directors decide whether to take over the state community services grant. The grant was lost by the North Idaho Community Action Agency when it fell more than $200,000 in debt.

“It could mean that we would be taking over food banks, but it could also mean providing other types of services,” said Lisa Stoddard of the Lewiston agency. “That’s what the meetings are for, to find out what those counties need.”

Wednesday morning, food bank clients who showed up at the old location at 211 Coeur d’Alene Ave. were greeted by locked doors.

Inside, Doug Gabel was clearing out the old office space, separating items that belong to the North Idaho Community Action Agency and those items that belong to others.

Gabel already had given away about 18,000 pounds of food to other area food banks after learning of the loss of funding, but there tons of food remained on the shelves out back.

That’s good news for folks showing up at St. Vincent de Paul this afternoon, who will be able to get pasta, canned goods, even Fig Newtons, just like always.

After six years at the food bank’s helm, Gabel is understandably unhappy that it is closing. But his bitterness goes deeper.

Even though he knew a month ago that the food bank might lose state funding, he and his 11-member staff were encouraged by state Health and Welfare officials to continue operations as usual. All of them were assured they would be paid for their efforts.

Gabel, though, said he hasn’t seen a paycheck since the beginning of April, and feels like he’s let down his employees.

“The bad thing about it is they led us on,” Gabel said. “Honest to God, there is a bad taste in my mouth. Somebody says, ‘State of Idaho,’ and I cringe.”

But the head of the state’s Individual Assistance Program, the department that withdrew the grant money from North Idaho Community Action Agency this week, insisted the group has been paid.

A check for $19,000 from the state for services the agency performed was received two weeks ago, said Patti Campbell.

“That check was processed and automatically deposited in their account,” Campbell said. “I can’t tell you what they’ve done with the money. It was paid.”

With the nonprofit organization’s offices at 1306 Best in disarray from the sudden funding upheaval, efforts to reach North Idaho Community Action Agency’s bookkeepers were unsuccessful.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo