Like Gainesville-Hall County did Friday, Habersham County is launching a food drive Monday. It will benefit the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia which serves Habersham and 14 other counties.
There are approximately 70,000 individuals in this service area that rely on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps. Around 5,200 of these individuals are in Habersham County.
“As you can imagine, providing food support to 70,000 individuals on a consistent basis is a monumental effort during the best of times,” the county’s announcement says.
“This task has been made even more difficult by the recent delay in SNAP benefits caused by the government shutdown, which has caused the food bank to experience an unprecedented level of need. Their resources have been stretched thin, and they are now stating that the region has moved from a state of food insecurity” to ‘food emergency’.
The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia serves as a critical pillar of support to the community during times of need; however, they are now in need of the community’s reinforcements to help them patch our neighbors through this unanticipated shortfall during the holiday season.”
Donated food needs to be non-perishable, unexpired and in non-breakable containers (no glass please).