Page 40 - Giving Back Guide - 2022

GIVING BACK
Every day, hunger hides among us behind smiling faces – our child’s classmate, the cashier at the grocery store, a co-worker, or a neighbor. Food shouldn’t be an impossible choice. For many, a daily meal is just a choice of what to eat for dinner. But for people facing hunger, a daily meal is a very different decision. It’s often a difficult balance between food and other critical needs such as utilities, housing, or medicine.
Such was the case for a family in Feeding the Gulf Coast’s Mississippi service area who found themselves in a challenging situation. The dad was laid off from work while the mom
was facing health issues. During this time, they lived week
to week in a hotel. The children were recipients of the Backpack Program through our partnership with Three Rivers Elementary. Each child received a bag every Friday to guarantee a weekend of healthy, nutritious meals while away from school meals. The counselor shared that the benefits of this food program were immense and clearly evidenced in the lives of so many children who receive backpacks every week.
Throughout our Mississippi service area, 1 in 6 individuals is 40 | December 2022 - Giving Back Guide
food insecure, including 1 in 5 children. That represents nearly 90,000 people who may not know where their next meal will come from. The food bank works with more than 100 agencies and community partners in Mississippi to serve those in need. Monthly, around 100,000 individuals visit a food bank pantry across the central Gulf Coast. These people are seniors living on fixed incomes, children without healthy food to eat outside of school, and working families struggling to make ends meet.
Last year in Mississippi, Feeding the Gulf Coast distributed over 3.5 million meals to families and individuals in need through our partner agencies and served nearly 8,500 children through our Child Nutrition Programs.
However, more work is needed to solve hunger in South Mississippi, and we need your help.
We hope you will join us in the local fight against hunger. For more information about how you can get involved, please visit www.feedingthegulfcoast.org.
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
story and photos courtesy of Feeding the Gulf Coast
SCAN TO DONATE