Monthly Second Harvest Food Distribution a community effort

Published 8:00 am Thursday, June 14, 2012

It’s that time of the month in Green County. Second Harvest’s Food Distribution, hosted by Rotary Clubs of Greene and Putnam Counties is Saturday at Greene County High School.  Every third Saturday of the month, the distribution event helps ensure residents in Greene County don’t go home hungry.

Carlyle Scales, a volunteer since the food distributions events were started in October 2010, says up to 50 or 60 volunteers show to help distribute food each month to those in need.

“[It’s] very much a community food effort and not an individual effort. It’s really about the community,” Scales said. “A tremendous amount of people in surrounding counties and even kids in the schools help out.”

Second Harvest captures and redistributes food every week of the year, going to Publix, Reynolds Plantation and other area establishments that support the event.

Food distribution events around Greene County have existed for years. Locally, the Backpack program, which was started five years ago, helped underprivileged children every Friday. Kids would bring backpacks to school and food would be provided for the kids for a weekend. Without the food, many children would likely not have been fed for multiple days.

“I think it’s important to stress that we don’t realize how many people go to bed hungry in Greene and Putnam county. That’s bad,” Scales said. “I can’t stress enough about the amount of high school students helping out, and they need to be recognized for their efforts.”

Second Harvest’s main mission for distribution events is to let people in need know that food is available every third Saturday.

No food goes unused, either. Items not taken this Saturday will be dropped off at different places in the area including Putnam Christian Outreach and Greenville City Food Pantry.

Second Harvest is always looking for more volunteers. Volunteers for this weekend’s event should arrive no later than 8:30 a.m.

Donations are key to Second Harvest, as the organization pays for a large quantity of the food provided. For more information on how to donate to the cause or how to volunteer, call Dennis Pepin at  (847) 769-5565.

For more information on the Rotary of Greene and Putnam Counties visit www.GreenePutnamRotary.org.