Hello Again,
Have you ever wondered how the food pantries feed so many people over the course of the year?
While talking with just one pantry, the Greater Dover-New Philadelphia Food Pantry, I found out they give away between 35,000 and 40,000 pounds of food to needy families in an average week.
Wow, 35,000 pounds in one week! I am both amazed and impressed.
“We are from the government and here to help” is a longstanding joke among many Americans. While in reality, our federal government really is here to help.
One great example is the Feds Feed Families campaign. This is a government-wide campaign where all federal agencies, including field offices, are asked to participate in the campaign.
Involving field offices, allows them to share their collections locally, ensuring that the campaign reaches all corners of our great nation and is visibly active in every state.
The campaign was created to help food banks and pantries stay stocked during summer months when they traditionally see a decrease in donations and an increase in need.
In Washington, D.C., the Capital Area Food Bank receives collections and distributes them through its network of more than 500 partner organizations.
Through the amazing generosity of federal employees, the food drive has collected nearly 70 million pounds of food for those in need.
Last year alone, more than 12.5 million pounds were donated and provided to food banks and pantries.
Sadly, there are still too many people struggling to put food on the table. So the northeast area Farm Service Agency County Office employees went into action and participated in the 2017 Feds Unite Against Hunger Feds Feed Families food drive.
A contest was launched to see who could bring in the most pounds of food. I think the participants had fun with the challenge while doing their part in the fight against hunger.
The food collected was donated to the Greater Dover-New Philadelphia food pantry.
Even more impressive is the pounds donated to local pantries across all of Ohio just from FSA employees. Overall, there were 2,037 pounds of food donated.
I think it’s very fitting for an agricultural agency to help feed the hungry. And I think saying “We are from the government and here to help” is an admirable statement FSA employees should be proud to say. Thank you, FSA for all your efforts.
That’s all for now,
FSA Andy
