Food for fines is helping local agencies fill gap in declining summer food donations

The Yuma County Library District’s “Food for Fines” program is back and it’s helping out in a major way.

Three years ago, the Yuma County Library District realized that several children were not able to participate in their summer reading program due to pending fines on their accounts. Their solution was to add a summer addition to the Food for Fines program.

They also noticed that the program was helping more than just their members pay off their library fines.

“We know from our local agencies that donations tend to go down in the summertime. So, it’s a great opportunity. It’s a win, win,” said Yuma County Library District community relations manager, Sarah Wisdom.

One of the agencies that experiences that trend is the Yuma Community Food Bank.

“Having the Yuma County Library do their food for fines, helps us bridge that gap for the summer months because we can see an increase in the number of families that come in during the summer,” said Yuma Community Food Bank community engagement manager, Michelle Merkley.

The decrease in the number of donations means that the food bank can only guarantee the food that the government provides them with.

“Yesterday, we saw 457 individuals come in to get an emergency food box. They can come in once a month. So, we can serve up to 20,000 individuals a month,” said Merkley.

Individuals are only allowed to receive one emergency food box each month. The boxes are meant to feed a family for three to four days.

“What would be in there would be a bag of beans, a bag of rice, two to three cans of either fruits or vegetables. They’ll usually get a pasta and pasta sauce,” added Merkley.

The donations from the “Food for Fines” program help the Yuma Community Food Bank offer these families more.

“Food for Fines” will continue through July 21st.

The food donated as part of the program will only pay off overdue fines, not damaged or lost materials.

The Yuma County Library is hoping to beat their 2,000 cans of food record from last year.