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Brown Bag program helps photo by Jim Craven ACCESS volunteer Linda Smith moves a bag of food to be given to people who benefit from the food panty's Brown Bag program. By Jonel Aleccia As her 8-week-old daughter napped in a car seat Friday, Sarah Goffic loaded two sacks of groceries into the minivan and sighed with relief. The food in those bags � onions, potatoes, bread, juice, cookies � will help the White City mother of three make it through another week of maternity leave. "I�m a single mom and not working right now, so it makes a big difference," says Goffic, who will return April 1 to her job as a Laidlaw bus driver. "This is a great deal." Goffic gets her great deal through the Brown Bag program operated by ACCESS Inc. Started in 1996, the program provides supplemental groceries twice a month to low-income families. At the same time, it ensures complete use of donations from grocery stores to ACCESS emergency food boxes. "We had to find another way to help people," explains Philip Yates, ACCESS resource director. "Plus we were trying to think of every avenue we can to use this food up." More than 200 households are enrolled in the subscription food program. For a payment of $10 every six months, members can come to the ACCESS office every other Friday and pick up groceries valued at about $70. They also get a newsletter filled with food safety advice, nutrition information and recipes. Available from 12:30 to 2 p.m. on the first and third Fridays of each month, the bags contain a sometimes odd collection of goods. There�s always bread, says Yates, who opened a pantry cooler to reveal stacks of loaves from the shelves of stores including Fred Meyer, Safeway, WinCo and Costco. But on Friday, the bag also included cheese torta from Rising Sun Farms in Phoenix, V-8 Splash juice drink, Costco cookies and Fritos. "We don�t guarantee it being nutritious because it is left over," Yates says. Need is the fundamental qualification for the program, says Yates. Clients are limited to 12 food boxes a year from the emergency service, but members of the Brown Bag program can pick up food every month, if they like. In addition to the Brown Bag effort, hungry clients can get bread for free every Wednesday at noon at the ACCESS office, 3630 Aviation Way, Medford. March has been designated as Hunger Awareness Month. The number of families in Jackson County seeking hunger relief increased by 26 percent in 2000, climbing to nearly 50,000 people. From now through April 15, ACCESS is conducting a fund-raising drive aimed with a goal of $30,000. For more information or to donate money or food, contact ACCESS at 779-6691. Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.