They say that the only certain things in life are death and taxes. Now we can add a third item to that list: rising prices, especially when it comes to food and fuel. We are finding that in the past few months more and more people have been seeking out SHARE as a way to save money on food. And that’s great—it’s why our organization is here for the community.

The rise in food prices is not just at the grocery store—it’s also happening on the wholesale market where SHARE purchases the food we distribute. We’ve been doing our best to hold the line on prices for our members, but it is becoming harder and harder to continue to do so.

This month you will notice that the Traditional Package on the August order form has one fewer item. I just couldn’t make the old formula work this month. The inability to maintain our usual variety in the package tells me that we need to consider a new model for delivering savings of 30-50% to our members.

Right now we are working on a couple of ideas for new packages that will continue to provide great value and keep pace with inflation. The two food packages we are looking at right now incorporate many of the comments and feedback that we have received from SHARE members and volunteers over the years. We will be sure to let all our members and volunteers know when the new packages will debut, the prices, and what they will contain. Members will still be able either to choose packages and/or individual items.

While the packages may change, one thing about SHARE will never change. The key ingredient for keeping SHARE prices low is the network of volunteers who work at the host sites. No amount of purchasing power would be enough to make it possible to offer savings of 30-50% over grocery store prices without this extraordinary volunteer workforce. This is the true value of SHARE—people working together on behalf of themselves and others.

Thus, I believe the fourth item we must add to the list of what’s certain in life is the ability of people to make a difference. So please take a moment to join me in thanking your host site team for their amazing commitment and the difference they continue to make to your community. With their hard work, SHARE will continue to deliver on its promise of great savings on high quality food.