Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Hundreds of hungry families in Jefferson County will each receive 50 pounds of additional food a month, delivered directly to their neighborhood, now that Second Harvest of the Big Bend has been given an additional refrigerated truck.
Feeding America®, a network of more than 200 food banks nationwide, is giving refrigerated trucks to 10 of its member food banks to support their mobile pantry programs and food distribution in communities with the highest need. A $2 million grant from the Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation, and support from partners Penske Truck Leasing and Lineage Logistics, is providing each food bank with a 26-foot vehicle that can transport 12,000 pounds of food at a time. They also will receive $52,000 to use for purchasing food and other necessities.
Feeding America helped identify food banks serving communities of color with disproportionately high levels of food insecurity to receive a truck to help increase their mobile food pantry capacity. Second Harvest of the Big Bend was chosen as one of those recipients, and their truck arrived on Tuesday, Sept. 20.
James McGowan, Chief Development Officer at Second Harvest of the Big Bend, says that having this truck will allow the organization to make an additional monthly trip to Jefferson County to distribute food to 150 to 200 households, providing each with 50 pounds of dry goods, fresh produce and protein. Before sending the
truck out, McGowan says that Second Harvest is surveying local contacts in the county to determine which neighborhoods are not being reached by existing food distribution venues.
The Monticello News announces regular food pantries being operated by more than nine churches and charities, yet families are still going hungry. As reported in the News on Sept. 7, Jefferson County has 14 percent of its population classified as food insecure, and 34 percent of residents are on the threshold of poverty. In addition, the current economy is making it even harder for families to buy the food they need.
According to the Darden foundation, as the rate of inflation has caused grocery prices to spike by more than 13 percent over the last year, more families are turning more often to local food banks for support. Communities of color continue to be impacted by food insecurity at a disproportionately higher rate. Bringing 12,000 pounds of additional food to county residents each month could have a significant impact in meeting this growing need in a community already experiencing high need.
In addition, local food banks themselves are dealing with the impacts of inflation, resulting in higher costs for food and the transportation needed to acquire and deliver food to their communities. Along with the truck, the donation of $52,000 from Darden Restaurants through Feeding America to Second Harvest of the Big Bend will help offset these rising costs.
“Across our company, we have a higher purpose to nourish and delight everyone we serve, and that includes the communities where we operate our restaurants,” said Rick Cardenas, President and CEO of Darden Restaurants. “We’re uniquely positioned to help in the fight against hunger, and we’re proud to continue helping more Feeding America member food banks increase access to nutritious food for people who need it most.”
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America said, “As food prices remain stubbornly high, the nearly 34 million people who experienced food insecurity in 2021 continue to face a tough choice, whether to purchase food or pay for other basic needs, such as electricity or medicine. This Hunger Action Month, we’re grateful for the collaborative efforts from Darden, Penske and Lineage in continuing to provide member food banks with refrigerated trucks that will help reach more communities and provide millions of meals to individuals and families across the country.”
Darden and the Darden Foundation have been partners with Feeding America for more than 10 years. Their 2022 donation of trucks and funding marks the latest effort in Darden’s ongoing commitment to help fight hunger, and it follows two previous donations that provided 15 refrigerated trucks for food banks. Within the first year of serving their communities, these trucks have conducted more than 7,000 mobile food pantry distributions and helped provide more than 27 million meals. (According to the USDA, 1.2 pounds of food is equivalent to one meal.)
This work builds on Darden’s ongoing Harvest program, which donates unserved, nutritious food from Darden’s family of restaurants to local nonprofits. Since this program’s inception, Darden’s team members have ‘harvested’ more than 130 million pounds food — amounting to more than 108 million meals.
Darden’s family of restaurants features some of the most recognizable and successful brands in full-service dining — Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and Eddie V’s.
The Darden Foundation works to bring to life the company's spirit of service through its philanthropic support of charitable organizations across the country. Since 1995, the Darden Foundation has awarded more than $100 million in grants to non-profit organizations such as Feeding America, National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) and American Red Cross.
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, it has helped provide 6.6 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry.