‘Food for Fines’ benefits students, library, hungry

The “Food for Fines” program at North Idaho College’s Molstead Library could be cited as the definitive example of a win-win situation. The hungry get fed, the library gets its books back and cash-strapped students get a financial break.

The library recently donated 1,046 pounds of food to Community Action Partnership during its spring “Food for Fines” campaign. Combined with the fall donations, the library donated a total of 2,241 pounds for the 2003-04 school year.

“Every donation is appreciated,” said Mark Haberman, Community Action Partnership food bank program manager. But, “anytime you’ve receiving 1,000 pounds of food, that’s a considerable quantity.”

He estimated that 1,000 pounds of food is enough to feed 20 families for one week.

The “Food for Fines” program works like this: For about a month during fall and spring registration times, every nonperishable food item students bring in gives them $1 off their overdue fines.

By shopping smart, students can knock down their fines by a half, two-thirds or even three-quarters, said Debra Vigil, Molstead Library circulation supervisor. “They should be able to pay off a $60 fine for $20.”

For example, if a student buys four boxes of macaroni and cheese on sale at four for a $1, they can receive a $4 credit toward their fine.

Overdue fees are 50 cents per item per day up to a maximum of $10 per item. “If you check out a bunch of items and end up ignoring our notices and phone calls, it can end up hurting,” Vigil said. “We have hefty fines… . The fines ensure that we get the books back so that others can use them.”

Students are not permitted to register for classes if they have overdue library fines, and by the end of the semester, when they have to register, money can be tight for students.

“We have a lot of single parents, young people who don’t have good jobs, a lot of low-income students. They can take care of their fines without a lot of money,” Vigil said.

The program began as an annual event in the fall of 2001. That year it generated 610 pounds of food. By 2003, it netted 1,195 pounds of food. “Because we heard the food bank was low again, we decided to offer it in the spring,” Vigil said. The library plans to continue offering “Food for Fines” twice a year.

“It’s a creative program,” Haberman said, adding that creativity can be very helpful in generating donations for food drives.

During 2003, Community Action Partnership distributed 837,917 pounds of food. Two-thirds of that food was donated by the community or purchased with cash donations. The other third came from USDA commodities.

Community Action Partnership distributed food to families 24,062 times in 2003, serving 4,050 unduplicated families or 11,254 unduplicated individuals. That corresponds to about 10 percent of the population of Kootenai County, Haberman said.

“Everything helps, every box of macaroni and cheese,” he said.