Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Henderson (Photo: Dana Gentry/Nevada Current)
Policy, politics and progressive commentary
The pastor of a small Henderson church that distributed food to neighbors in need for the last 14 years says he is at a loss as to why Three Square food bank chose to end its partnership, leaving the church without a source of donated food.
Ed Bruning, pastor of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church for three decades, says he is reluctant to speak publicly about Three Square’s decision to sever its relationship with the church.
“I don’t want to harm the mission of feeding people, and therefore I don’t want to really put Three Square in a bad light, but the way that they have acted and what they continue to do has soured me entirely,” Bruning said during an interview.
Three Square says in 2023 it distributed more than 37 million meals through community partners in Clark, Esmeralda, Lincoln and Nye counties, but Bruning says Three Square has unrealistic expectations of its partners, given its lack of guidance, which is documented in state audits.
The pastor says he pleaded with Three Square CEO and President Beth Martino, who joined the non-profit a year ago: “She said that we were not philosophically aligned, and that she had to rush off to a meeting, but she would look into it further, and that’s the last I heard from her.”
“I believe what I actually said is that I thought we had some philosophical differences in how we wanted to serve people relative to our two primary goals of serving people with safety and dignity,” Martino said in an interview. She declined to elaborate, referring the Current to a Nevada Department of Agriculture inspection from late last year that identified inadequacies in Our Savior’s volunteer-run operation.
The state’s review of Our Savior’s conducted in November of last year “cited food safety concerns, no access to records, and inadequate training.“
“I was in the hospital at the time and there was no one there to provide the information to the Department of Agriculture,” says Bruning.
The state suggested Our Savior’s food distribution efforts be suspended pending training provided by Three Square. Bruning says there is no process for Three Square’s partners to appeal when the food bank terminates a partnership.
Food distribution agencies “must maintain eligibility by complying with state and federal regulations, including requirements of the TEFAP program and food safety requirements,” the Department of Agriculture said in a statement to the Current.
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a USDA program, provides food to people who do not qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) because their incomes exceed the allowable threshold.
According to the National Council on Aging, nearly 2 million food-insecure seniors did not qualify for SNAP benefits in 2021 because their incomes were too high.
Qualifying for USDA food requires identification, proof of Nevada residency, and a declaration that household income does not exceed 185% of the federal poverty level.
“The Department of Agriculture said, ‘Three Square, you are the regional food bank. It’s your responsibility to train this partner. Go over there and train them, and after you’ve trained them, go back here and make sure that they’re doing it right,’” Bruning asserted.
Martino says Three Square has been working with Our Savior’s and has made training available to all of its 150 partner agencies.
Bruning says the church satisfied Three Square’s requirements to the best of its ability, given the food bank’s lack of best practices. He says distribution sites largely fend for themselves without training and guidelines.
Martino declined to say whether the church satisfied Three Square’s requirements. “It’s an ongoing process and I wouldn’t want to say anything that isn’t factual.”
She said she was unaware of Three Square severing a partnership with any other distribution agencies.
Nevada Department of Agriculture audits detail a number of inadequacies, similar to those identified at Our Savior’s, at other Three Square partners and at Three Square itself, such as:
failing to have accurate food distribution information listed on its website;
failing to ensure eligibility forms are completed at every distribution;
failing to ensure distribution agencies comply with TEFAP regulations and policies during agency site reviews;
having excess supplies in the warehouse such as refrigerators and freezers that are purchased with government funds;
having no food loss procedures in place;
failing to ensure proper food combinations are being distributed equitably among agencies.
The findings indicate a need for Three Square “to improve TEFAP training and program communication” with partnering agencies, “as well as conduct site reviews and technical assistance throughout the year to ensure program compliance,” the Department of Agriculture noted in its evaluation of Three Square.
“We have been, subsequent to that audit, working very diligently and as expediently as possible to correct all those issues,” Martino said.
Small church, big mission
Bruning says Our Savior’s, a small place of worship located in the heart of downtown Henderson, had a big footprint in the food pantry realm.
“We were once Three Square’s partner agency of the year. We used to use a flatbed truck to pick up food from the grocery stores,” he says. But Three Square eventually cornered the market – buying refrigerated trucks and entering agreements with the stores to exclusively obtain their leftover food and distribute it to agencies such as Our Savior’s.
Nevadans spend an average of almost $295 per week on groceries, the most in the Mountain West and second highest in the nation behind California, according to the HelpAdvisor report based on U.S. Census data. The national average is $270.
“The average weekly food budget shortfall is $24.23 per person across Three Square’s service area. For a family of four, this equates to about $5,040 annually,” says the agency’s website.
According to Three Square, 1 in 7 Southern Nevadans don’t always know where their next meal will come from, and 1 in 5 children lives in a food-insecure household.
“What we were hearing from our partners is that they were seeing an increased demand and that they needed more food on their shelves, so we’ve tried to do everything we can to help them meet that demand,” Martino says of Three Square’s commitment to purchase more food. The effort resulted in a loss of $12 million in 2022, according to the nonprofit’s tax return.
Our Savior is located in the 89015 zip code, where the per capita annual income in 2022 was $32,000, according to U.S. Census data. Almost half of the area’s residents are seniors, many of whom live alone.
Golden Groceries, a program made possible by a grant from Three Square, provided food to carry seniors through weekends when few pantries are open, according to Bruning.
“On Saturday morning we had cars lined up and down the streets,” he says. “They would line up at five o’clock in the morning.”
The traffic jams prompted the city to charge the church with traffic violations.
“We attempted several solutions suggested by the city, but they were costly and we were unable to satisfy their demands,” Bruning says. “We felt compelled to eliminate the program in 2022.”
Catering to the poor in downtown Henderson, the focus of the city’s redevelopment effort, has been a challenge not only for Our Savior’s, but for St. Timothy’s, a church with a food program that was popular among the unhoused until local businesses complained, according to Bruning. The effort was tweaked to discourage service beneficial to homeless individuals.
“The city does not want to acknowledge there are homeless people in Henderson,” Bruning says.
Just acquiring transportation to a food source can be a challenge for the neighborhoods’ residents, Bruning notes. “Do they have a vehicle that is available at will? Is there a bus route close by? Can they achieve what they need to accomplish through wheelchairs and other mobility devices that are limited in range?”
Bruning says Our Savior’s provided more than food for its previous pantry clients.
“These are people who are depressed and fearful. Part of it stems from fear over the economy and the presidential election. Anybody that pays any attention to the negativity of the news – it’s very easy to be fearful in a dull, inexplicable sense. Our volunteers made them feel like family.”
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