NHBC distributes over $20K of food to community | Community Spirit

CRISP COUNTY, GA - News release from The Fishermen For The Hungry

The accumulated efforts of Northern Heights Baptist Church, Ameris Bank, 50-60 Volunteers, The Fishermen For The Hungry, and the Albany Ga. Branch of the Second Harvest of South Georgia distributed 600 cases of groceries and approximately 750 bread items, weighing approximately 20,000 lbs, with a estimated retail value of approximately $22,500.00 to our community Sat. August 25th  2012.

Our volunteers not only distributed food for the body but also food for the soul by counseling with and praying for any specific needs requested by our recipients with approximately  135 documented sessions  and approximately 25 more undocumented sessions.

This was an amazing and rewarding distributions but it was also the very quickest distributions we ever had at N.H.B.C.  We were out of food by 11:00 am.

Our 50-60 smiling, loving, and caring volunteers from N.H.B.C., the community, other churches, and Ameris Bank could not help us running out of food but we will never run out of prayers. 

We had volunteers from our very young boys and girls to our Senior Adult men and woman and our volunteers logged in a total of approximately 200 hours for the day.

GOD’s GRACE and MERCY was very evident by all the smiles from each and everyone participating.

All participates can certainly and sincerely say that OUR GOD LOVES THEM and WE DO TOO!

Our next Food & Prayer Distribution will be held September  22nd  at Northern Heights Baptist Church and our goal is to distribution no less than 600 cases of food and as many prayers as requested.

The food is first come first served so come early but we will never run out of PRAYERS.

Each and everyone in our community is invited to share in the blessings either as a recipient, a volunteer, or as a sponsor.

The following statistics have been supplied to us by the  Albany, Ga. Branch of the Second Harvest of South Georgia:

·      84 percent of our service area is considered rural. Of the 25 rural counties we serve, 21 have been deemed to be in persistent poverty.

·         According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 29 of our 30 counties are considered high poverty counties (having a poverty rate of 20 percent or higher). The unemployment numbers rose in Albany and Southwest Georgia for the month of June. Albany's jobless rate rose to 10.3 and the Southwest Georgia rate grew to 9.8as of June 2102.

·         There are approximately 758,838 people living in our service area, and the poverty rate is 26.34 percent. 21.7 percent of these individuals have reported being food insecure (according to Feeding America Map the Meal Gap 2012 data).

·         More than 38 percent of the children in our service area are living in poverty; 16 percent of the children live in extreme poverty. 28.4 percent of these children are food insecure (according to Feeding America Map the Meal Gap 2012 data).

·         74.75 percent of all students in our 30-county service area are eligible for the free- and reduced-price lunch program offered by the school systems.

·         While there are only approximately 90 grocery stores/supermarkets available for the residents in our 30

·         Counties, there are more than 500 fast food establishments to which these residents have access.

·         The state of Georgia has 159 counties and is the largest state east of the Mississippi River (only Texas has a higher number of counties). Georgia has rural communities spread across five major geographic regions and has more counties in persistent poverty than any other state.

·         The obesity rate of the residents in our 30-county service area is 32.40 percent. Living in a community where convenience stores or fast food establishments are more accessible than grocery stores or produce outlets offering fresh fruits and vegetables puts community members at higher health risks.

·         Reasons cited for food insecurity: Substandard wages; lack of transportation to access affordable food; lack of work; inadequate housing and lack of sufficient earned money to cover expenses.

·         Barriers to access for assistance: Needy families are not aware of programs that offer assistance; programs are simply not available in all communities; there is a stigma attached to seeking assistance; people are not aware that they qualify for assistance; lack of resources to reach outlets for assistance (transportation, cannot leave work to seek help during hours that help is available).  Statistic

For more information, contact Dewey or Linda Mitchell at 229-273-0579 or any one of the Northern Heights Baptist Church Family.