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VALDOSTA – Second Harvest of South Georgia and the Nationwide Affiliation of Letter Carriers will be part of forces Saturday, Could 13, to take part in Stamp Out Starvation.
It’s the nation’s largest single-day meals drive and Valdosta-Lowndes County has performed an integral half in its historical past and success.
“Final yr, the occasion collected roughly practically 70,000 kilos of non-perishable meals to assist profit our neighbors in want,” native meals financial institution representatives mentioned in an announcement. “This annual meals drive, now in its thirty first yr, started as a regional effort and grew to be a nationwide occasion that helps hundreds of thousands of Individuals struggling to place meals on the desk.”
Demand for meals help elevated drastically in the course of the first years of the pandemic – a big portion had been individuals who immediately discovered themselves in want of assist for the primary time, in keeping with Second Harvest.
Second Harvest was in a position to enhance its efforts and reply to this “extraordinary state of affairs via beneficiant funding and meals donations from throughout the nation,” representatives mentioned. “The necessity for the meals financial institution’s help has not decreased considerably as COVID turned much less prevalent, however contributions – each meals and funds – to assist the work have proven a pointy downturn.”
“It’s particularly essential that this meals drive is profitable this yr,” mentioned Frank Richards, Second Harvest chief govt officer. “Donations are down and the provision of federal commodity donations to meals banks is at an all-time low.”
Stamp Out Starvation makes it straightforward for folks to assist feed seniors, kids and households locally.
Residents can merely accumulate and bag non-perishable meals objects and go away these baggage by their mailboxes Saturday morning.
Letter carriers and Second Harvest will make sure that the donations get to these in want. Individuals are requested to donate canned objects akin to meat, fish, greens or soup, and different nutritious shelf-stable objects like peanut butter, rice and beans.
For meals and occasion security, NALC and Second Harvest ask for no meals donations in glass jars.
The charges of meals insecurity in South Georgia are the best within the state and among the many highest within the nation, representatives mentioned.
An estimated 84,000 folks within the area dwell in a house with no secure supply of meals – practically a 3rd of whom are kids.
“Second Harvest wants the neighborhood’s assist to fill its cabinets earlier than the college yr ends,” representatives mentioned. “Summer season is the time of best want in our space; throughout summer season break, households should attempt to stretch their price range to pay for meals that their kids obtain via the college meal packages.”
“That’s a difficult activity for a lot of households even in one of the best of instances. In these instances of excessive meals and gas costs, it may be practically not possible,” mentioned Eliza McCall, chief programming officer for Second Harvest.
Second Harvest of South Georgia serves 26 counties and is the biggest rural meals financial institution in Georgia.
Headquartered in Valdosta, the group has places in Thomasville and Tifton. Via a community of greater than 325 companion charities and thru its packages, the meals financial institution distributed greater than 20 million kilos of meals (or 14.6 million meals’ price) within the final 12 months and feeds 1000’s of youngsters each day via its Youngsters Cafe.
For extra info on Stamp Out Starvation or Second Harvest of South Georgia, go to us on-line at www.feedingsga.org.
The Nationwide Affiliation of Letter Carriers is the union of metropolis supply letter carriers working for the USA Postal Service based in 1889.
At this time, the NALC maintains its custom as a union of greater than 300,000 members in all 50 states and different U.S. jurisdictions.
For extra info, go to http://nalc.org/commun/foodrive/index.html.
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