Salvation Army Won't Have USDA Food Before December

SEBRING - Those looking for USDA food commodities from the Salvation Army after the county quit supplying it will have to get it somewhere else for at least another month and a half.

The Salvation Army in Sebring is undergoing a "routine" first-time inspection and audit that will continue at least a month, said Linda Cahill of the Lakeland-based Cahill Ministries Food Bank.

"It's just a routine thing... every time an organization comes in, it first must be inspected," Cahill said. "It took Salvation Army a long time to get their paperwork back."

The USDA food commodity program provides mostly canned food and some dry food for the needy, and several food pantries get their designated USDA commodity food from food banks.

The Salvation Army was working to serve approximately 700 patrons with a new USDA commodities contract, taking it from the county government after Highlands County decided to stop participating in the federally funded program in September. They need the inspection, however, because they never took part in a USDA commodity program before.

"We got the contract signed but Cahill (Ministries) said they can't do inspections until the start of December," said Mary Holmes, the captain of the Salvation Army in Sebring. "I can't distribute until they have the inspection."

Holmes said they would only give about four or five cans of food a month to a patron, and she did not think the delay would strongly affect those who relied on the commodities from the county.

"There's several places in town who have food pantries," she said, adding the commodities are "helpful, but it's not really a lot of food."

Robert Larson, who uses the USDA commodity foods, said he used to get seven to eight cans from the county, along with a bag of rice and some other foods in addition to what he can scrap up from a Dollar General. He balked at the idea of the Salvation Army not having the food available as Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaches.