Thanksgiving Continues

It's true.... life has moved on, winter is approaching and most of the population is caught up in the Christmas season, but the Community Food Connection is still caught up in a time of Thanksgiving! Since the week of Thanksgiving nearly 30,000 pounds of food has been donated to the CFC. Amazing! At a time when many food distribution centers are struggling and the economy causes us to count our very pennies, the CFC has been blessed with lots of food. That is the great news! All of that food has been sorted and shelved and is being given away now.

We have great shoppers that go to Second Harvest every week to participate in the treasure hunt.... we never know what they might bring back, but we do know it will be just the right foods to carry us through!

When the store opened on Monday we looked around and wondered how all that food could disappear so quickly and if the next few weeks would find us struggling and "begging" again. The warehouse looked rather sad and approaching low. Putting that aside while we opened the doors, we found our clients in great moods and grateful for their food. The mood was better as the day went along. Bread was delivered (what a difference a fresh loaf of bread makes!) and then it happened! First the Christian Trendsetters Class from Maryville FUMC brought food from their Christmas party (thanks Barry), then Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church (thanks Ruth) brought in 36bags of food and Third Street Baptist Church (thanks guys) sent food.... lots of food.... not one, not two but three truck loads of food (that means about 3600 pounds if you are wondering). Just when our minds had been wondering where the next load of food might come from - here it is!!

Wonder where that food goes? Here are a few statistics for you. Between November 1st and December 1st the CFC was open 13 days (4 hours per day). During that time 1096 (nearly 3000 individuals are represented in that number) families came in to receive food. Of those 1096 families, 180 families came in 2 times during the month. There were 73 new families served in that time period and 83 bags for families of 6 or more were given out. That is a lot of food! In any given week around 2500 pounds of food are distributed.

Now we all know where that food goes! November was also a great month for monetary donations. We know that we are facing leaner times in the winter months and with these donations there will be the means to purchase food needed to serve our clients.

The board members of the CFC are most grateful and appreciate the way Blount County has supported our efforts to feed the hungry of this community. Your donations of food, money and especially your offering of prayers are genuinely needed and appreciated. We have the best volunteers around and they are dedicated to this mission. What a blessing to serve with so many wonderful folks!