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1/13/2021 - Charlotte, N.C.- As the pandemic continues across America, many people are still out of a job and in need of relief from the COVID-19 induced lockdowns. Since March, one of Charlotte’s local food distribution centers, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, has been serving those in need and helping the community to get by in these difficult times.
Dave Brown, the Food Sourcing Manager at Second Harvest, along with a team of North Carolina Air National Guard, Army National Guard, and daily volunteers have set up in the Convention Center in downtown Charlotte to pack boxes of food distributed to counties across the Carolinas. The convention center, normally busy with social events, is now vacant and has let Second Harvest utilize the warehouse as a distribution center for food donations to church pantries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and a variety of other charitable programs.
Mr. Brown noted, “We knew that when COVID started there would be an increased need for our services and we started packing additional boxes in April.”
Since starting at the Convention Center, Second Harvest has packed and distributed over 300,000 boxes of food to their 800 partners across North and South Carolina. Depending on help from volunteers, Second Harvest can pack over 1,000 boxes a day or roughly 13 pallets.
“We are thankful that the Army and Air National Guard has been able to lend a hand, it’s really helped increase the number of boxes that we can get to our partners,” said Mr. Brown.
Some of the Guardsmen have been working in the distribution center for months. Lt. Charles Brown, an engineering officer from the 878th Engineering Company, was activated at the distribution center in September, “I was first activated to help the food bank in Raleigh,” remarked Lt. Brown. “But as our orders were extended, they moved me back to Charlotte where I’ll be helping through the end of March.”
Second Harvest Food Bank is funded primarily through corporate and individual donations that are used to operate the charity. Mr. Brown stated, “We run a very lean operation; we’re the only food bank in the country that can say we distribute a million pounds of food per employee.”
If are you interested in donating or volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina please visit https://www.secondharvestmetrolina.org/ to learn more.
| Date Taken: | 01.15.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 01.16.2021 15:00 |
| Story ID: | 387087 |
| Location: | CHARLOTTE, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fighting COVID One Box At A Time, by SrA Thomas Arndt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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