“We want to show our community how we come together,” Mayor Lester Miller told a crowd and media at a news conference Wednesday morning. “This crisis was not committed by people in Macon-Bibb County…but we can’t sit around and do nothing.”
On Tuesday, November 4, the Macon-Bibb County Commission unanimously approved allocating $150,000 toward fighting food insecurity, dividing the money among 11 organizations. This comes after the federal government shutdown and the setback of SNAP benefits across the nation and in Macon-Bibb County. The next morning, Mayor Miller held a news conference at the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank to announce which organizations would be receiving the funds.
“The groups getting this funding are groups the County has worked with in the past and have proven to be good stewards of funding,” said Mayor Lester Miller. “They will help us get food directly into our neighborhoods quickly and effectively.”
Organizations receiving this funding include the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank, the Society of St. Andrew, Mentors Project of Bibb County, Mother’s Nest, Backpack Ministry at Forest Hills Methodist Church, Loaves and Fishes, Salvation Army, Community Church of God, C-QUL, Brookdale Resource Center, and St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Peter Claver.
“We usually get our food from the Food Bank, but as you can see the shelves, there’s not a lot at the moment, so we have to buy food at retail,” said Mary Ellen Grossnickle with the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry. “That gets very expensive, but now with this money, we will be able to put more items in a bag.”
The Middle Georgia Community Food Bank will receive $50,000 to help purchase more food immediately.
“Across the state of Georgia, for every meal that is provided by a food bank, six meals are provided by SNAP,” said Food Bank President/CEO Kathy McCollum. “We would have to be able to do seven times the work we already do. We would need seven of these warehouses to make up for the loss of SNAP benefits.”
“Today’s donation from Macon-Bibb County is so appreciated because we will be able to take that money and very quickly turn it into food,” McCollum continued.
While the County’s donation will provide some temporary alleviation, the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank is still in need of donations. Mayor Miller also announced that he was personally donating $1,000 to the Food Bank and encouraged those who could to do the same or what they can.
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