A recent food distribution event wasn’t supposed to start until 5 p.m., but cars began lining up at 1:30 p.m.
“A lot of people think it’s just unemployed people who need food assistance,” said Amy Breitmann, executive director of the Golden Harvest Food Bank, which has been doing weekly mobile market food distribution events from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on October Thursdays at the food bank’s parking lot on Commerce Drive. “But it’s not. It may be the single mom working two jobs trying to piece things together to pay the rent.”
Prior to the pandemic, the food bank’s role was that of a distribution center. It purchased food or received food donations, which were then parceled out to more than 170 different entities from church food pantries to other non-profits such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta, the Family YMCA and Salvation Army.
But during the pandemic, a lot of smaller pantries shut down at a time when the needs were going up, she said. Since March 2020, the food bank has had in the neighborhood of 230 mobile events where families could pick up a box of food. Some have been in rural areas while others have been in the food bank’s parking lot.
Some people just need a little bit to get by until their next paycheck, she said.
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One in seven people and one in every five children in the 25 Georgia and South Carolina counties the food bank serves struggles with hunger or food insecurity. About 74% have to choose between food or paying rent or a utility bill. Senior citizens are often forced to choose between eating or having medical care, according to statistics from the food bank.
While many people are back to work now, the higher costs of food, rent and gas are making an impact especially on working families, she said.
October is a big month for the charity. It’s Spooky To Be Hungry, a grassroots food and financial drive, started earlier this month. On Oct. 23, people will be distributing door hangers to their neighbors that announce the Oct. 30 drive.
At one time, it was more of a canned/nonperishable food drive. People would canvas their neighborhoods and collect donations. Now, volunteers can put the door hangers out with information on the drive, scan a QR code and make a donation if they wish or they can donate the food items.
Breitmann said a monetary donation makes more of an impact than a donation of a canned good. The food bank can purchase food through its channels so that every $1 donation equals three meals.
In addition to donations, the food bank is in need of volunteers who can work in a variety of capacities including sorting food donations and packing food boxes for distribution. To learn more about the food bank, visit goldenharvest.org. To participate in It’s Spooky to Be Hungry, visit itsspookytobehungry.org.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
