December 12, 2012
www.gfb.org
Vol. 30 No. 50
GFB DONATES $20,000 TO GEORGIA FOOD BANK ASSOCIATION For the third straight year, the Georgia Farm Bureau Harvest For All campaign solicited cash donations, and the state’s 158 county Farm Bureau chapters combined to contribute $20,000, which was presented to Georgia Food Bank Association (GFBA) Executive Director Danah Craft during Georgia Farm Bureau’s 75th Annual Convention on Jekyll Island. The GFBA uses donated dollars to purchase high-protein, low-cost foods like chicken and peanut butter and to offset the costs of various outreach programs like mobile pantries, Manna drops and backpack programs. Because the GFBA uses bulk purchasing, they can turn $1 into more than $7 worth of food. The GFB Young Farmer Committee coordinated the campaign. “We are so grateful to Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmers for this donation,” Craft said. “These funds could not have come at a better time. Donations like this are critical because food banks often need to purchase protein to supplement the donated food that comes through food drives and other product donations.” Craft noted that demand for food assistance has grown by 15 percent this year, and one in six Georgians need food assistance. GFB’s donation will have a statewide impact. The Georgia Food Bank Association distributes the funds to America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia in Savannah, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Feeding the Valley in Columbus, the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia in Athens, Golden Harvest in Augusta, the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank in Macon and Second Harvest of South Georgia in Valdosta. Past Harvest for All campaigns have solicited direct donations of food. Since 2004, GFB has coordinated eight Harvest For All campaigns through which GFB members across the state donated about 49,000 pounds of staple food items and more than $80,000 in cash donations distributed to the food banks located throughout Georgia affiliated with Feeding America. The Center on Hunger and Poverty defines food insecurity as occurring “whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain.” The Center defines hunger as “the uneasy or painful sensation caused by a recurrent or involuntary lack of food that is a potential, although not necessary, consequence of food insecurity.” “Sadly hunger is a significant problem for many of our fellow Georgians,” said 2012 Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmer Committee Chairman Jake Carter. “The Harvest For All campaign is our way of reaching out to those in our communities struggling to feed their families.”