ANDERSON — Food or fuel?

Hunger-relief agencies in Madison County will soon confront a difficult decision in the face of high transportation costs.

On Aug. 1, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana will impose a two-tiered delivery fee on food shipments. Agencies served by Second Harvest must pay $25 on shipments of less than 900 pounds and $50 on shipments of 900 pounds or more.

Second Harvest provides food for hunger-relief agencies in eight counties and the additional cost could result in lost service to those most in need.

“We’re living with the reality of the day,” said Nancy Vaughan, president of the United Way of Madison County. “The reality of the day is that transportation costs are huge. The food is donated; the cost is in getting the food where it needs to go.”

Lois Rockhill, executive director of Second Harvest, said the delivery fee had been in place for years but was waived. As the price of fuel continued to climb, however, officials saw no choice.

“We need to recoup costs, but we don’t want to jeopardize the ability of our agencies to serve,” said Rockhill, adding that the fee goes to offset fuel costs, driver pay and truck maintenance. “Fifty dollars does not cover our cost; $25 does not cover our cost.”

Second Harvest serves Madison, Delaware, Henry, Grant, Wabash, Blackford, Randolph and Jay counties. But the fee will be especially hard to accept in Madison County. Last November, Second Harvest began the transition from its Anderson headquarters at 1417 Meridian St. to its new facility in Muncie. The decision was made after the south wall of its Anderson warehouse was declared unsafe.

“With the wall, we couldn’t allow agencies to come into the building any more,” Rockhill said. “We had to go to 100 percent delivery.”

Rockhill said the delivery fee would be applied consistently, from Muncie to North Manchester in Wabash County, 80 miles away.

“I don’t know how we’re going to afford it,” said Joy Plummer, executive director of Operation Love in Anderson. She said the agency buys an average of 6,255 pounds of food per month from Second Harvest, and that translates into $200 a month in additional costs.

On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Operation Love offers its emergency pantry, bringing 75 households enough food for a day or two. On Wednesday, the agency offers “client choice” service to provide a week’s worth of food. Plummer said Operation Love serves up to 3,000 clients a month on an annual budget of around $120,000.

Plummer understands Second Harvest’s decision to apply the delivery charge and said feeding the hunger was a shared responsibility.

“We all have to come together and feed people,” Plummer said. “We all pay one way or another. People who don’t take their meds end up in the hospital, in the emergency room. When people are hungry, they get angry, and they do whatever they have to do.”

The need for food is even greater during summer, when children cannot receive free breakfast and lunch at school.