SVEC Helps Feed the Hungry
Among the allocations at their December 2002 and January
2003 meetings the SVECares board allocated $1500 to The Sequatchie County Fellowship of Churches Food Bank and $1000 to the Grundy County Food Bank.
In their August 2003 meeting they approved a grant of $1,500 to the Marion
County Food Bank.
These three banks are responsible for providing food for the needy in the counties that they serve.
The Sequatchie County food bank is run by the Sequatchie County Fellowship of Churches. A group of over ten churches of various denominations. The food bank is located in the First Baptist Church in Dunlap. Currently the food bank is open from 8:00a.m until noon Monday- Friday. Those in need may receive food once a month. There is no application but a file is kept on each family to determine the next time they are
eligible for a distribution.
All of the food distributed is collected by the churches that are members of the Sequatchie County Fellowship of Churches.
Some churches take monetary donations others collect canned goods. The only outside sources of food are the Sequatchie County School’s food drive and the Annual Holiday Food Drive that Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative holds each November and December. “The Co-op food drive really goes a long way to restocking our shelves,” said
Reverend Tom Gholson, pastor of the First Baptist Church, “We really appreciate it.”
They estimate that they serve at least one family a day with the last couple of weeks of the month being they busiest.
The Grundy County Food bank, housed in the old high school in Tracy City distributed food boxes to 4100 people last year with a total of 58 tons of food.
They distribute once a month on the fourth Tuesday. Eligible families may apply for food every other month.
The food bank is run entirely by volunteers. They range in age from teenagers who help fill the boxes up to 87 year old June McCullough who interviews the applicants to determine eligibility.
The bank has been in operation for roughly 20 years according to current director, John Myers. “Katherine Flury got it started in the early 80’s,” he said.
Their main source of funding is an annual grant from United Way. Since they are a United Way agency and since they purchase most of their food from the Chattanooga Area Food Bank they follow the eligibility guidelines set by the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. These guidelines require
recipients to show proof of income once a year. “A lot of our clients are single people living on a fixed income such as Social Security,” Myers stated, “Many of them supplement their food stamps with food from the food bank.”
The Marion County Food Bank is run by the Marion County Ministries and serves
the entire county. It is made up of volunteers from a number of different
churches of varying denominations. It is located in Sequatchie in the old United
Methodist Church building. It is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from
10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon. For more information on the food bank call
942-9556.
All of these food banks have benefited greatly from the SVECares
program as well as the SVEC Annual Holiday Food Drive and other local food
drives sponsored by the local schools and civic organizations. However these
food drives are usually seasonal and leave the food banks needing help during
the late spring, summer and early fall months. If you would like to help these
worthy organizations, they can use donations of non-perishable food items and
personal care items (tooth brushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc) as well as
monetary donations. Volunteers are also needed and appreciated.
