With food stocks running short for the food bank, and donations from retail grocery stores down, the GMFB is turning its sights on raising enough money for a truckload of food on Tuesday.
Prior to the pandemic, the Georgia Mountain Food Bank never had to purchase food to ensure their pantries had enough to distribute, according to Executive Director Rebecca Thurman. Now, with retail donations down, the nonprofit is focusing on raising enough money on Giving Tuesday to buy a truckload of food.
Each truckload of food is approximately $40,000 worth in food, Thurman said. With nearly 65% of all donations to the foodbank coming from retail grocery stores traditionally, the organization is hoping Tuesday’s campaign will help stock their pantries.
To help them with that goal, the Mall of Georgia Kia Dodge Jeep Ram has chosen to match every donation dollar up to $10,000.
“So normally, the food bank can provide 50 meals for every $10, but because of this gift, every $10 is going to be 100 meals, so we're very excited about that opportunity,” Thurman said on WDUN’s Mornings on Maine Street.
The food bank maintains three trucks on the road, five days a week picking up donations, most of which are coming from grocery stores and other food providers.
“So much of the food in the U.S. is wasted because the retail organizations don't have the manpower to sort out the bad food from what would be good and they just throw it away,” Thurman said. “And we are able to collect that food and redistribute it into the community.”
Some hot-ticket items needed by the food bank include peanut butter, soups and meat. They are unable to accept donations of medicine or any pre-prepared food items. Items donated to the food bank must be unopened in their original retail packaging.
The easiest way to donate to the Georgia Mountain Food Bank on Giving Tuesday is to head online to their website, gamountainfoodbank.org.
