Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Food banks from around the country deal with a number of issues.
Everything to limited resources to food prices, to the rise of food insecurity, especially after the COVID 19 pandemic.
A lot of people don't even understand the difference between what a food bank and a food pantry is. I recently had a chance to sit down with Kent Eikenberry, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Food bank, to talk to him about how they're combating this issues in our community.
This is our interview.
Thanks for coming, Kent. I appreciate you spending some time in the studio today.
We have cameras on both sides.
So tell me, you guys have had a lot of changes at the food bank in the last three years, two years. How long does it take for that building to be built?
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. We. We actually started talking about the building in 2018, back when you were on the board. We were talking about the need to expand because Highway 265 went through the middle of our parking lot at our old location.
And, you know, we were pretty disappointed that that happened. But, you know, things turn out for the best and turn out for the way they're supposed to be. And, you know, it forced us into looking for a different location. So we now sit in a really good location in the center of Northwest Arkansas, just off of 71B on Pleasant Grove in Lowell.
We're sitting on 15 acres and moved in a year ago, last Thursday.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: So it's already been a year.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: It's been a year.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
So just to start off, for some people who don't understand, because it's the proverbial question that goes on with, especially related to the food bank, the difference between a food bank and a food pantry there is what is the. What is the difference?
[00:02:09] Speaker B: I thought that was a statement. There is a difference between. Yes, the best way to view what we do is we're like a wholesale grocer.
We collect food, we buy food, we put it in a big old warehouse. And the food pantries, there are 110 of them who are in Northwest Arkansas, are partners, are like the retailers. So they deal with that. We're just.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Why can't a food pantry just go ahead and handle what you do?
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Because we do about 15 million pounds of food a year.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: What's the advantage of having a food bank in a region?
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Well, it provides those food pantries that we talked about, a central location to go get the product that they need. They're able to get it at a fraction of the cost of what it would be if they Tried to operate independently. For example, we distribute protein for 9 cents a pound.
And I certainly know that they couldn't go anywhere else and get protein for 9 cents a pound.
So it's just a matter of economics that we're able to support them.
We buy food from Feeding America, we buy food from other distributors direct, and we get it at, in many cases below wholesale prices because it may be short dated or whatever the case may be.
So that food then is distributed through our agency partners and they can afford.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: To get it all right with a lot of. I mean, I take it there's been a lot of changes after Covid, a lot of effects and stuff. What have you seen as far as need?
Gross.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: So, you know, it's interesting, we were really excited when Covid was quote unquote over that. We thought, man, we survived and the need's gonna go down. Well, we went straight from COVID the need of COVID And I know you remember seeing the big lines at the metro food banks, the San Antonio food banks, the Austin food banks, where you would see people literally lined up for miles to go get a, a sack of food or a box of food. We went from that to inflation like you and I haven't seen in our lifetimes.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Right.
So you certainly, you never saw it go down?
[00:04:45] Speaker B: We never saw it go down. It just moved. The demand, the reason behind the demand just shifted from one thing to another. So in fact, we're seeing, we're seeing numbers in northwest Arkansas food insecurity that we've never seen before.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: What's any ideas?
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Feeding America estimates nearly a hundred thousand.
That's about one out of every six, one out of every seven persons.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: That would make sense because I just before we came in, I looked at this, I looked at what the estimated for just northwest Arkansas and it was 605, 609,000.
So you're talking year one in six.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Just about. Wow.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: And this is, I know this has been the big question that has gone on for years is that you know what, if anything, the food banks just supply food.
Is there any.
You've got a new building, you're doing things associated with supplying food.
Has there been any opportunities that you're saying that you guys can work on that can try to help alleviate or is that not the purpose of the food bank?
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Well, there are multiple answers to that question and there are multiple questions within that question.
Root cause work is something that we're very interested in.
We need to determine what those root causes are. But a lot of the root causes for Food insecurity are things I have no control over.
Well, I can't. I really.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: You don't have control?
[00:06:24] Speaker B: I can't.
I can't do anything about the cost of rent in northwest Arkansas.
I can't do anything.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: Now, that's a good question. Okay, you've just hit on something that we can center on.
What?
What? Has the food bank or has the food bank been able to see anything that are root causes you just mentioned?
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Oh, I think. I think the cost of living in northwest Arkansas as it continues to escalate is a root cause.
Most of the people we deal with are employed.
But really, you and I know people who are food insecure.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Right? Right.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: They may not admit it to us, and we may not know who they are, but I promise you, we know people who are food insecure.
And our friend Rusty always says, you know, don't talk to me about math. But this is a math equation that even Rusty could figure out. If somebody works full time and they're making $15 an hour, that's $31,000 and change per year.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: You slice off your taxes off of that, your housing off of that, a vehicle to get to and from work, childcare, you start deducting all those exp off of that good wage of $15 an hour, there's not any money left to buy groceries. And that's what we're seeing in northwest Arkansas. And that cost is continuing to escalate. And I'm not a proponent of raising minimum wage. I don't think that's going to make any difference.
But I am a proponent of paying people a livable wage when it's. When it's possible.
And fortunately, the food bank is there to help those people who can't make ends meet and who have more month at the end of the money.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: With.
And there's nothing. I mean, food bank isn't involved in any of that because you're just giving.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: You're just supplying food. So back to the root cause issues. We recognize that we need to shorten the line. Collectively, we need to shorten the line.
We realize our role in the community. Shortening that line is to make sure people have food while they're in the line and it's somebody else's.
We want to support single parent scholarships. We want people to be able to go out and get better jobs. We want to support what used to be Northwest Technical Institute. I think it's change, you know, but we want to support those places. We want to support Habitat for Humanity. We want to do those things. But we realize they have their mission and we'll let them do their job and we'll do our job, but we'll collaborate. And because many of us have the same client, for lack of a better term.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: And when you talk about collaboration, it's.
When I was on the food bank board, one of the things that you guys started developing was the data.
Have you. And I take it it has shown you that basically it's.
It's wages because being one of the primary. Anything else that it's shown you that it's reaffirmed.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: Two things. It's a reaffirmed that most of the people are not trying to scam the system.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: So all these people who say, well, they're not working, they're lazy, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, yeah, doesn't apply.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: No, they're not the guys holding up the signs that says, you know, anything accepted. No, those aren't the people we serve.
The people we serve is the mom that's working as many hours as she can at whatever job she can find and then pay for childcare and then take care of her kids. So are there a senior who all of a sudden, as my parents did, retired and thought they had enough money to live on for the rest of their lives and outlived their money and so they're put in that situation now. Reed and Louise would no more accept food from a food pantry than the man in the moon. But, you know, there are people out there who need help.
You know, I would encourage anybody going back to you and I both know somebody is send them to a food pantry.
That's what we're here for. That's. If it wasn't for people who were food insecure, I'd be without a job.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: I know that you guys have a mobile food pantry and you're working with food pantries. Is there anything to.
A lot of the food pantries are private or churches and they can find that where those locations are.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: So the best way to find out where to get food is to go to our website, nwafoodbank.org and I chuckle because I was being interviewed and it's been several years ago. I was being interviewed at a Czech presentation and they asked me that question and they said, where's the website? And I said, well, it's nwaonline.com and the. Whoever was, whoever was interviewing me. The, the TV reporter at the time knew me, knew my history, laughed and said, kent, you don't work at the paper anymore, by the way.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: That is the newspaper's website, you need to go to nwa.com for the food bank.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Yes. If you go to nwafoodbank.org and click on Find Food Food, it will, you'll be able to put in your zip code and it'll match you up to a food pantry that is closest to you, really.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: So with a lot of the changes, Arkansas legislature just ended and there's a huge debate in the US Senate right now over the big bill, the big beautiful bill.
What do you see? I mean, what, what? We had a chance to talk to Laura Kellums from the Arkansas Children Advocacy for Children and Families, and she talked a lot about how that bill could really affect people and Arkansas associated with SNAP and how Arkansas legislature, if I'm right, Arkansas legislature, the way that programs, the way some program is set up in Arkansas, if the feds drop a percentage of the giving to the state, that whole program goes away. It's not snap. I think it's something else.
But anyways, there's a lot of. You have to go back and look at that podcast to remember. But what are you seeing coming down the pike as some of the issues that you fear could be happening? Or are you watching?
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Oh, I'm watching.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: I sure you are.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: I'm watching.
You know, Spencer, I'm going to temper that answer with the sense that you've known me for a long time.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: And 20 years.
I try not to get caught up in things I have no control over.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Until the federal government actually reaches a decision on what they're going to do.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Right.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: Everything is just speculation at this point.
I'm relatively confident that SNAP will survive in a manner it may be different.
I know that they're wanting to transfer some of the operational expense to the state.
I don't know if Arkansas has the ability to absorb that or not.
What I'm concerned about with snap, and I've had some discussions with some of our elected officials is that they're really pushing the work requirement.
And I don't have a problem with that.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: I don't have problem with that. I don't. I don't have problem with somebody if they're getting benefits, they need to be working or going to school, trying to improve themselves to get off of snap. The problem I have is that if you have a job, regardless of how much money you make, you make too much money to be eligible.
So there's no way that somebody, that $15 a person an hour person that we just talked about, there's no way they would qualify for SNAP because they make too much money, but yet they can't live on it.
So what we've done is we have created an opportunity for people to live perpetually on the government's toll.
Now, if we would do away with that benefits cliff and design a program perhaps of benefits slope to where you can have assets did you know you can't even have. If your car's worth more than $5,000, you can't get SNAP now. So what we've done is we've created a program whereby you're incentivized not to be successful.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: I think we might want to step back just a little bit, explain to people who are listening to this who might not know what SNAP is. Okay.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
And one of the key words is supplemental, because again, it's not if you're on snap, it's the old food stamps. And if you're on food stamps or if you're on snap, you still had to buy groceries. You certainly don't get enough to survive on.
And the people that visit a food pantry that don't get enough food to survive on, we supplement them, we help them get through.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: But.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: So the SNAP program is a. Is a federally mandated program, but it.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Only goes to what.
What's the income that allows to have snap?
[00:17:06] Speaker B: It's a sliding scale. Is it okay, based off of. Based off of the number of people that are household and those types of places.
But so it's, it's, you know, if you qualify for SNAP and you're working, you're obviously working someplace where you're not getting anybody, not getting paid very much or if you, you know, own something. I had a year or so ago, I was talking to a lady who, Whose car was totaled.
She got an insurance check for $4,370.
She cashed that check and put the cash under her mattress, because if she would have deposited it, she would have too much money in her checking account in order to be eligible for snap.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: And you see this a lot.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: We see this a lot.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: So basically, they penalize you for trying to get out of the. Trying to get out of being dependent.
So that's. So between low wages and not being able to get out of the system, is there anything else that you see that you kind of go, that's not enough?
Hey, apparently it's not.
How often do people like yourself or the Arkansas food banks, I know you work with them and you work with Feeding America.
How often do you see legislators, either local or national, that really, really just come to you and say, hey, listen, what are you saying?
[00:18:46] Speaker B: How often do they come to me? Can you ask me that question?
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Well, you.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Yeah, you in particular, or not very often do they come to me and ask that question? How often do I go to them and share the answer to that question?
Several times a year.
Yeah. I'm actually on a committee for Feeding America that goes to Washington D.C. twice a year.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: And so I meet with our elected officials up there at least twice a year.
A couple of weeks ago I was meeting with a representative of the governor's office. So yeah, we're, we are not afraid to share the plight of the food insecure person.
Not to the extreme that Laura and her team over at Arkansas Advocates do. They are, they are way more, they are way more into the political weeds than we will ever be.
But a lot.
But that's their role. Again, going back to what we talked about, we all know our role.
And as long as we stay in our lane and try and do those things, as long as I keep feeding those people who need help, ultimately we're going to figure out a way out of this thing.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: What you're describing to me is something that has been going on forever. Matter of fact, a long time ago, I know an organization that literally took people and gave them. I can't remember the whole thing, how they did it.
They gave them so much money and they said, go to and we're going to give you this fake grocery store. This is what you get for your not snap but food, Food stamp, sweet stamp. And from there get what food you need. And they realize real quickly that they could get nothing of.
And then they would question the value of the food that they're buying. Oh, they're always buying sugar or sodas or whatever, which is something also that the food bank gets has. There's this stigma that's attached. A lot of, A lot of political people will often say, well, the food banks are only giving them bad food. Explain a little bit about that.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: So over 75% of the food we distribute is deemed nutritious based on Feeding America's guidelines and the USDA guidelines.
That's a change a little bit.
Now we are not one of the food banks that turn down donations that don't fall into that.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: Donations? You mean by product?
[00:21:30] Speaker B: Yes, product donations that might be a sugary soft drink or a candy bar. We'll still accept those. And we distribute them because our philosophy is people, regardless of their income, deserve a treat once in a while.
So the food that we distribute, like I say, is over 75% of it is considered nutritious.
That's a myth. I guess that's out there.
I thought where you were going was Arkansas's waiver on Snap purchases that in two years if you can't purchase soft drinks or certain products with, with your Snap dollar. Oh really?
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: I think that's, you know, I think it's an attempt to.
Healthy eyes. Healthy wise.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: Health, health, Health and eyes.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: Health and eyes. That's a good word. That's a cool word.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Whether it's real or not, completely different.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: But you know, I think that's Arkansas's attempt to try and make a healthier Arkansas. I think what, what we're missing on that is the, the people, the vast majority of the people don't use Snap and they're buying the same stuff. So we're, I guarantee you I'm not very healthy and a lot. So I don't think, I don't think that saying that you can't buy a can of cola with your Snap dollars is going to make us all of a sudden be the healthiest state in the union.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: And then you can be like a friend of mine who only drinks Diet Coke, which is your crate. That's all they drink. Not water, just Diet Coke.
So you're, you're just waiting to see what's going to happen with, with the laws. You're not, you're, you're are. Would that be considered you are not proactive or you're active in regards to. Let's see where it goes.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: I have shared my concerns with our elected officials until my elect. The elected officials who are friends of mine want to see me anymore.
So no, they haven't said that. But I know what do you.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: It's always amazed me on some of this that some of this to me is like this is a no brainer.
This is truly a no brainer. If you look at some needs out there, is it. Do you think that there's some sort of policy position that people have or do you think that there's some sort of view that they have a perception of the people who are in need?
Some of this like you're talking about the progressiveness of not having enough money to.
A perfect example of this is I think Wisconsin.
There was some state and a university that gave $200 extra a month.
I wish I could remember the organization that did this. They gave like, like $200 more a month to an, to a group of people who were getting, who are on welfare and though, because the idea was, is well, we don't give them enough money.
And they said, well, they'll just spend it, they'll waste it. And 90 something percent of those people that use the extra $200 used it to buy a car, to rent a house, to get another education.
90% statistically tried to get themselves out of poverty with it. And yet people will sit there and say, well, they're just gaming the system.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: So why do you think some of this. I mean, this has been going on forever and it's only gotten apparently worse even after Covid, you say, so what do you see being on this, on that side of, on the food bank that you think that it's just so difficult for this problem to at least be addressed in a way that we can.
Do you think it's economics? Do you think it's business? Do you think it's politics? Do you think it's.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: I'm going to use the term ignorance and not ignorance in the sense of.
I'm using the term ignorance in the sense of not knowing what the problem is.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: Yeah, you're not saying that they're educatedly ignorant. They're just ignorant into the problems.
[00:26:22] Speaker B: Okay, yeah, I think that's it. I think there's, you know, we've talked about it for years that there's a perception that, for example, in northwest Arkansas, the streets are paved with gold. Everybody up here is making six or six and a half figures of salaries.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Median income here is 40 something thousand.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: So, you know, again, going back to that mathematical problem, you start slicing off of that money, there's not a lot left.
So I think there's the awareness that there really is a problem.
And, you know, it's kind of like one of those things that as long as it doesn't impact me directly. Well, is it really a problem?
[00:27:15] Speaker A: And goes back to the problem of saying, well, there's a lot of homelessness here. And everybody goes, well, no, there isn't. And you sit there and say, what's the percentage of, what's the percentage of kids that are insecure in the schools?
[00:27:27] Speaker B: You know, there's a lot of.
There are a lot of kids who are sleeping on somebody's couch, so technically they're homeless.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: But do you know the percentage now?
[00:27:39] Speaker B: I don't.
[00:27:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: There again, that's, that's one of those root cause issues. And that's another organization, Seven Hills and a couple others that, that we support and God bless them for what they do.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: But are you still.
Give me example of some of the food pantries that you that you.
I mean, I think people might be surprised. Are you still doing stuff with the food pantries at some of the schools?
[00:28:06] Speaker B: Yes, we have.
Of the.
I just heard this today. Of the 19 school districts that are in the four county service area, we have school pantries in 15 of them.
[00:28:19] Speaker A: So you only have school pantries, not in four of them.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: That's. Well, that's one way of saying, you know, but yes.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: That'S a lot.
It's a lot of food.
Is there any other programs that you are working now with, developing that you've got with your new building?
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Yeah, we really are.
We're certainly trying to learn how to use the building to its capacity. Because you heard me say all the times you were on the board, the building is a tool.
The building is not the solution, but it is a tool.
But yes, we've expanded our mobile pantry system. We've. We've gone to.
We're continuing to expand an order ahead program where people can go to. Just like they were ordering their groceries from a retailer. They order their groceries and pick them up at a food pantry that's convenient for where they live.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: So you're literally building like a basket of food that you're delivering to the pantries, to the people. Oh, okay. That's interesting.
I thought you were trying to get away from doing the individual and just giving it to the pantries and having them. I knew you were boxing. I didn't realize you were boxing specifically for.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: That's something that came out of our data.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: Right.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: Is that transportation is an issue.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: Right.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: For some people.
So. Or the hours of operation may not be convenient for somebody.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: So.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: If, for example, you went in and you placed your order, we would put it together, we would deliver it to that pantry where you would normally go or close to you, and then you would go and pick it up. We're trying different things to get food into the hands of those people that need it. We're using doordash for delivery.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: Really?
[00:30:22] Speaker B: Huh.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: My first question is, who's paid for the doordash?
Don't you pay the money?
So is that part of.
You're not gonna say no, we have.
[00:30:42] Speaker B: We, you know, we have a donor.
[00:30:44] Speaker A: Donor base.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: We have a. We have a very generous community that we live in who are willing to invest money in things that we're trying to solve the problem with.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: Right, right. That's. That's an interesting. That's an interesting take. I've never. It's the.
I think if there's anything else, I really don't Is there anything that you wanted to talk about a little bit?
Anything that.
How's the fundraising? Is the building paid for?
[00:31:19] Speaker B: You know, I announced at the ribbon cutting that we moved into a $24 million building without a mortgage.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: Done. So so now any money coming in is to help the food bank.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: Any money? Of course, now we spend three and a half million dollars a year buying food.
[00:31:45] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: So that's. And then, of course, we. We have staff that delivers that food.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: And this is a good question.
You just hit the staff part. And I was thinking about this today.
How long ago have you. How long have you been at the food bank?
[00:32:00] Speaker B: It will be 10 years in January.
I started January 1st of 2016.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: How many employees were at the food bank when you started?
[00:32:13] Speaker B: 13.
[00:32:14] Speaker A: How many are there now?
[00:32:15] Speaker B: Well, today we got as high as 49. I think we're back down to 47.
[00:32:23] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: But we've, you know, we're hovering right around 50.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: How many food pantry, delivery truck, I mean, pantry trucks do you have?
[00:32:32] Speaker B: How many trucks do we have?
[00:32:33] Speaker A: I remember when you first got the first one from Tyson.
[00:32:35] Speaker B: And we've got.
I think we've got six or seven trucks that are running full time, and then a couple of six or seven that are running five days a week.
[00:32:53] Speaker A: How many do you wish you had?
[00:32:56] Speaker B: We could use a couple more. But, you know, one of the things that changed since you were on the board is we deliver 100% now.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Oh, so that no one comes and picks up anymore?
[00:33:08] Speaker B: No, we don't have any of our agency partners.
[00:33:10] Speaker A: And you had all those docks and everything built. And it's just docks for your own trucks.
[00:33:15] Speaker B: It's for our trucks and to unload. Semis have come in. We can do, you know, we can do two or three semis at a time now.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: You know, as opposed to making them sit out in the parking lot and wait. And so there are just so many efficiencies that come with the building.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: How long do you think it's going to take until you outgrow that building?
[00:33:38] Speaker B: Never.
[00:33:39] Speaker A: Well, because you can expand it.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: Well, even. Even to expand, uh, that we estimate that it'll be 12 to 15 years before we need all the existing pallet slots.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Really?
[00:33:53] Speaker A: That's good.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: So let's assume that the population grows, as they say it will.
[00:34:00] Speaker A: By 2050, they're estimating it'd be a million.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: Okay, so we got a million people. Continuing that same equation of 1 in 7, the number of people that we're going to serve is going to be up around 140 or 150,000 people.
We have plenty of space to move that food in and out because we're a food bank, we're a food warehouse, we're not a food museum.
So we don't want that food to sit around, we want it to come in and go out.
So being able to turn that inventory quickly, we'll be able to survive and excel in this facility. For easily any.
[00:34:52] Speaker A: Fundraising activities that are.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: Going on every day.
Every day we've got. Of course our big annual fundraising event is the Jewels of Giving gala which is being repurposed this year after 12 or 15 years. It's kind of gotten a little bit stale. So it's going to be the flavor of giving.
It's going to be October 9th. It's going to be not a sit down dinner, not formal, but more of a relaxed just opportunity for people to mingle. And where's ammb?
Oh, Cos H House.
[00:35:38] Speaker A: Oh, okay, that's different. He used to be at the convention center.
I guess the one last question, you are now you are still serving what's the area?
Landmass in general?
[00:35:52] Speaker B: Madison, Washington County.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Okay.
Well Kent, I really appreciate you coming in and anything. It was interesting to, to kind of catch up and see what, where you are and what's going on.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: Well, and I, I assume you've been out to the new food bank.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I've been out there when you, when you, when you. The last time I was out there is when you, when Ed. We honored Ed. Okay.
And so yeah, that's, yeah, it's been, it's been a while. I'd be curious to go back out there now and see what's been going on.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: So love to have you up but you know we had a board meeting today and so there, you know, we're working on the next five or six year strategic plan which you were part of the last one we did way back when. So you know, we're evolving. And you know, again I've mentioned a couple of times that you've known me for a long time. I'm a huge proponent of continual improvement.
[00:36:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
Well, you could see it how the.
[00:36:54] Speaker B: Food bank's gone, we're not perfect. But if we're better today than we were yesterday, we're making progress. And that's, that's our goal is to continue to be a little bit better every day and make life a little bit better for northwest Arkansas every day.
[00:37:09] Speaker A: Okay, thank you again. I appreciate it.
[00:37:10] Speaker B: You bet.
