Click the player above to listen to Kay Blackstock's interview on WDUN's "Newsroom."
The Georgia Mountain Food Bank's annual headline event is just days away, but because of the COVID pandemic, it will be a virtual event this year.
The Empty Bowl luncheon will take place Tuesday, offering a method for participants to support GMFB’s impact on addressing local hunger.
The food bank has set a goal of raising enough money to pay for 1 million meals. Every dollar raised can provide five meals to those in need. Executive Director Kay Blackstock said Wednesday the organization is less than $10,000 away from reaching that goal.
"We all sat around and said let's set a bold goal," Blackstock said during an appearance on WDUN's "Newsroom." "And here we are, less than $10,000 to go."
People can start bidding now on bowls painted by members of the community and some celebrities. A live auction for special items will also be held during the online event.
In addition, every school superintendent from the systems in the food bank's service area are participating in the “Superintendents’ Challenge.” Each superintendent submitted a painted bowl for the Empty Bowl auction as a competition to see which can draw the highest bid – all part of an effort to deepen the partnership between food bank and the schools, children, and families it serves.
Details on how to participate in this year's virtual event are on the food bank's website. Click here for details.
September is Hunger Action Month, created to raise awareness about the seriousness of hunger in our communities.
According to the food bank, more than 1.3 million Georgians – including 405,308 children – face daily struggles with hunger. That numbers includes almost 50,000 residents from the food bank's territory – Dawson, Forsyth, Hall, Lumpkin, and Union counties in north Georgia.
Blackstock said the pandemic made food insecurity an even larger problem. GMFB saw a 40 percent drop in the donation of retail food products that they use to help feed the food insecure during the pandemic. That lead the food bank to seek new ways to get food to people who needed it.
"I think sometimes it's hard for people who have not experienced food insecurity or even come close to really wrap their heads around how that could be possible in this great, wealthy nation that we live in," Blackstock said.
The food bank has provided more than 59 million pounds of food to those in need since its founding in 2008, which includes 5.27 million meals distributed through programs and partner agencies from July 2020-May 2021 alone.
There are other ways the organization is working to raise awareness and raise funds.
WEAR ORANGE DAY: To draw awareness to the fact that hunger is a very real in our community, the food bank is asking people to wear orange on Friday. Orange is the color of hunger.
READING AWARENESS: Thanks to a grant from Cook Law Group, the food bank was able to purchase enough copies of the children’s book “Lulu and the Hunger Monster,” by Erik Talkin to distribute to every elementary school in their service area.
This book teaches about childhood hunger and allows kids to learn about food banks and how they may be able to help.
Former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and first lady Sandra Deal joined the food bank in filming a video of Sandra Deal reading this book for use in classrooms.
To learn more about Hunger Action Month please click here.
