FORT BENNING, Ga., (Nov.18 2015) -- Twenty percent of Georgians regularly do not have a sufficient amount of food to eat, but a local food bank, Feeding the Valley, is working to reduce that number.
"The stark reality is that one in five Georgians is considered to be hungry on a regular basis," said Frank Sheppard, executive director of Feeding the Valley.
Sheppard said that is defined as "food insecurity" - a lack of resources to be able to eat a consistent nutritious diet.
"That means sometime in the monthly cycle of income and expenses they are going to have to make decisions between food and other basic needs," Sheppard said. "Do I pay my rent or do I eat? Do I take my child to the doctor or do I eat?"
Feeding the Valley serves 14 counties and through its 240 partner agencies it distributes over seven million pounds of food annually.
"Our agencies shop in our warehouse, which is set up much like a Sam's. We charge a flat 19 cents a pound for food," Sheppard said. "A thousand pounds of food at wholesale would typically cost you $1,600, but here it costs $190. It allows those nonprofits to stretch their charitable budgets quite a bit."
Children are a major focus of Feeding the Valley's outreach.
"One in four kids in the state of Georgia is going hungry on a regular basis," Sheppard said. "Studies show that those children are automatically 20 percent behind their peers in their pursuit of academic success."
Sheppard said students who regularly miss nutritious meals are prone to circumstances that detract from learning, like missing school, falling asleep at school or having an illness.
To help combat hunger in local youths, Feeding the Valley prepares 1,500 hot meals a day as a part of its Kid's Café program.
Sheppard said the meals are located in local public housing facilities, as well as some churches and community centers, and any child up to age 18 and within walking distance is welcome to the hot afternoon meal.
Sheppard said many of the children who eat at Kid's Café in the afternoon would otherwise go hungry until the next day at school.
"It gives them something to tide them over," Sheppard said.
Sheppard said since some students are dependent on school breakfast and lunches, the weekends become a problem. Feeding the Valley now has a weekend backpack program to address weekend hunger.
Through the program, the food bank partners with local churches who have schools identify the most chronically hungry students.
"The schools then fill a backpack full of food with kid friendly but nutritious meals that they take home for the weekend," Sheppard said. "We are now doing 1,000 of those a week."
Feeding the Valley also has mobile pantry programs.
"A lot of people don't have the means or resources to get to a food pantry, so we take the food to them," Sheppard said.
By partnering with each county's enrichment services personnel, Feeding the Valley is able to get 7,000 boxes filled with 40 pounds of food each out to people in rural areas.
Sheppard said Feeding the Valley could not operate without the donations it receives.
"Of the 7 million pounds of food we distribute each year, we purchase virtually none of that," he said. "It is donated by major and local food retailers."
It also receives federal USDA commodities and products from Georgia Nutrition Assistance Program.
The food bank also benefits from its volunteers, Sheppard said.
"In total, we average over 18,000 hours donated to us each year," he said. "That is the equivalent of better than eight fulltime employees. It means a lot to us as a non-profit to have eight additional employees who we do not have to pay."
Sheppard said they have been fortunate to have a good relationship with Fort Benning and corporate partners.
"They routinely have groups come out and donate their time," he said. "We appreciate the efforts to strengthen our community and help those in need that the Soldiers and staff at Fort Benning help provide."
On Veterans Day a group of Airmen spent time at Feeding the Valley packing boxes for the mobile food banks.
Staff Sgt. Zachary Waldron, 15th Air Support Operations Squadron, said the group was trying to pack as many boxes as it could.
"I think any program to help feed people who are in need is a worthy cause," Waldron said. "It's awesome that people who have the resources come volunteer, because they are lucky enough to have everything they need in their lives to be able to give back."
Waldron said he and his fellow Airmen chose Veterans Day to volunteer because they wanted a chance to help the community.
"This is always a day that we get so much given to us, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to do something to give back to the local community," he said. "There are a bunch of places around here today that will be letting us in with open arms for free meals and we just want to give back as well."
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