By Elizabeth Seaborn

Special to The Herald

Farmville Area Community Emergency Services, or FACES, assists over 950 local households including over 1,400 individuals with supplemental food needs.

“They are a wonderful organization and they are very critical and very needed in Prince Edward County,” said Warren Hammonds of the Central Virginia Food Bank (CVFB). The CVFB estimates over 500 tons of food is distributed annually by FACES.

Ellery Sedgwick, the president of FACES, said, “There’s something like 22,000 people in the county and 19 percent of them live under the poverty level which comes to about 4,200; that’s steep.” 

Federal poverty guidelines indicate that a family of four living at the poverty level has an income of $23,850 per year or less.

That income must furnish shelter, utilities, transportation and food. FACES supplies food as a supplement for those individuals.

According to Sedgwick, FACES expenses total about $75,000 per year.

That entire amount must be procured through fundraising efforts. FACES annual report for 2014 shows a breakdown of income to include churches, individuals, grants and foundations.

In 2014 FACES collected $48,940 from individuals and only $6,000 from grants. Out of a total income of $110,446 they spent $66,375 on food.

After operating expenses they managed to save $8,340 to support their backpack after-school program.

“We make dollars go very far. Partly because we are all volunteer, so all of the money goes toward the purchase, storing and distribution of food,” said Sedgwick.

FACES obtains food through local donations and purchases from the CVFB.

Typically they pay about 23 cents per pound of food purchased.

“If you can buy good food for 20 odd cents per pound you make it go five to 10 times further than you and me going to the grocery store,” Sedgwick said.

Many people support FACES by facilitating canned food drives.

However, Sedgwick wants people to know that to get more “bang for their buck” they should consider donating cash. The regular consumer can purchase one can of food for a dollar. FACES purchases four to five cans of food using that same dollar.                

FACES is given a distribution territory by the CVFB which includes Prince Edward as well as parts of surrounding counties that share a zip code.

According to Sedgwick, clients are screened for two main criteria: first, they must live within FACES zip code territory. Second, they must not earn more than 150 percent of poverty level.

FACES clients range from young families to the elderly with the elderly making up about 31 percent.

FACES volunteers deliver around 100 bags of food to elderly residents who are homebound every week.

Support from the community comes from many different venues.

Area churches of several denominations collect donations as well as help with weekly bagging and distributing of food.

Local schools offer support through canned food drives. The Town of Farmville provides FACES with a warehouse.

The Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors contributes funds to FACES, along with county and town residents through monetary donations.

Both Longwood University and Hampden Sydney College support FACES through volunteer help and philanthropy clubs. Sedgwick said,

“During the school year we get a lot of help from Longwood students, a tremendous amount.”

Hampden Sydney’s philanthropy course students wrote a grant that allowed FACES to purchase a box truck. Food Lion and Walmart support FACES by donating produce and bread products.

A FACES board member visits each store three days a week to pick up donations.

“The truck is invaluable for that,” Sedgwick said.

Sedgwick believes FACES has a duty to not only feed but to provide good food.

He said they want to distribute food that will give the most nutrition for the value.

Protein and produce became their focus for a low cost, high value source of food.

Sedgwick said, “It’s really important. One of our aims at this point is not to just distribute food but good food, food that isn’t going to make you obese and I really think that we’ve had an impact on the diet locally.”

For more information on FACES, to donate or to volunteer, visit www.facesfoodpantry.com, call (434) 392-6277 or email facesfarmville@gmail.com.