Ag News
Harvest for All raises $25,600 for Georgia Food Bank Association
Posted on Dec 06, 2018 at 0:00 AM
GFB presented the Georgia Food Bank Association a check for $25,600 on Dec. 3 during the 81st Annual Georgia Farm Bureau Convention, held on Jekyll Island. Funds for the $25,600 donation were raised through Farm Bureau’s Harvest for All campaign, which collected donations from county Farm Bureaus and the organization’s state office, as well as the GFB Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee’s “Calf’s Weight in Change” drive held earlier this year.
In addition to helping with purchases of high-protein foods like chicken and peanut butter, donated money helps the GFBA offset costs associated with collecting and distributing food donations.
“Generally, those funds get split up equally among the eight food banks,” Craft said. “A lot of times they’ll use that money to buy things that aren’t donated that are critically important for nutrition for the families they serve, like protein. We are grateful for Georgia Farm Bureau and the generous hearts of Georgia's farmer & rancher communities.”
The GFBA started its Farm to Foodbank program in 2014, through which it accepts food donations directly from farmers, who give nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables that grocery chains won’t buy for aesthetic reasons. In the past year, Georgia’s farmers donated more than 14 million pounds of food, providing millions of meals, which the GFBA attributes to its affiliation with Georgia Farm Bureau.
Georgia Farm Bureau’s Harvest for All 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, the Chattanooga Area Food Bank (Food Bank of Northwest Georgia), 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. To see which counties each food bank serves, visit https://georgiafoodbankassociation.org/find-your-food-bank/.
Past GFB Harvest for All campaigns have solicited direct donations of food. Since 2004, GFB has coordinated 13 Harvest for All campaigns through which GFB members across the state donated about 49,000 pounds of staple food items in addition to the cash donations distributed to the food banks located throughout Georgia affiliated with Feeding America.
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