Food bank brimming in donated cereal.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

This is the kind of problem a food bank rarely has: more comestibles than its warehouse can handle.

Today, local cereal maker Golden Temple will donate more than 30 tons of its breakfast fare to FOOD for Lane County - enough to fill five tractor-trailer rigs.

Golden Temple, which produces organic cereals, teas and body care products in its Eugene facility, regularly donates bulk foods to FOOD for Lane County, said Pat Farr, the food bank's executive director.

But this single donation at the start of the year was an overwhelming surprise, Farr said.

"It's the sheer magnitude of it and the fact that cereal is such an in-demand item," he said.

The donation consists of 38,500 pounds of bulk cereal and 800 cases of packaged cereal weighing more than 22,000 pounds. It's roughly the equivalent of 80,000 boxes of cereal.

Golden Temple expanded last year, adding a new cereal line and increasing production, CEO Kartar Khalsa said. The firm also sells some foods in discount markets.

"If you do a cereal and put in blueberries instead of strawberries by mistake, you can't sell it on the primary market," he said.

With last year's expansion, the amount of cereal headed for such secondary markets had grown, he said. Instead of selling it, Golden Temple decided to donate it.

Golden Temple regularly donates 10 percent of the profits from its Peace Cereals to peaceful causes, but this donation is a broader part of its charitable efforts, Khalsa said.

"We thought it was a great way to start 2005," he said.

FOOD for Lane County serves 120 other agencies that provide meals or emergency food boxes to people struggling to make ends meet. During its last fiscal year, the agency took in 6 million pounds of food to distribute and served more than 80,000 county residents.

Cereal is a versatile food to include in emergency boxes, said Deb Buchanan, food solicitor for the food bank. "It can fit in at any meal. It's a snack. It's good for all ages and it's totally healthy," she said.

Some of the cereal will be sent to the Oregon Food Bank for distribution statewide.

FOOD for Lane County will get help storing the excess from Bi-Mart, Buchanan said.