Second Harvest, Inc., sponsored by the Rotary Club of Greene and Putnam Counties, was formed in September 2009 for the purpose of rescuing previously prepared food and delivering the food to nonprofit organizations who help those in need. Thanks to the contributions of the Ritz Carlton Lodge — Reynolds Plantation, Publix, Reynolds Plantation Club Houses and Cuscowilla, Second Harvest has rescued more than 70,000 pounds of food since inception. These previously prepared foods have been delivered to local non-profit organizations which include: The Greene County Food Pantry, Penfield Christian Center, Putnam LifeSource monthly food distribution and the Putnam Christian Outreach Center.  The administration of the program, to include the pickup and delivery of the food, is managed by 66 volunteers. The volunteers include Rotarians and community individuals who want to provide a ‘hands up’ to those in need.  America is the largest, most efficient producer of food in the world. So we feel hunger is to a large extent a matter of logistics — not shortages — basically rescuing previously prepared foods that would otherwise be wasted and get this food to those in need.

In October, 2010, Second Harvest added a monthly food distribution. This distribution is held the third Saturday of each month at the Greene County High School.  This program was patterned after the Putnam County LifeSource monthly food distribution, which was organized by Bob and Valerie Landau.  Since October, Second Harvest has distributed more than 96,000 pounds of food purchased thru Golden Harvest and distributed food to an average of 360 recipients, which represented approximately 1,000  family members.

As with the rescued portion of Second Harvest, volunteers come from many different aspects of the community – Rotarians, citizens from the community, students and many individuals who are in need of food but want to ‘pay back’ for what they receive. All volunteers work ‘side by side’ to organize the food and help the recipients bag and get their food to their vehicles. During the January, 2011 distribution, students from the Dreamers , Greene County High School Beta Club and students who needed community work, joined other volunteers to assist those in need.     

Today, 16.7 million American kids — that’s nearly one out of four kids in this country — are at risk of not getting enough to eat.  With the economic trends in Greene and Putnam Counties, the number of kids in our area probably exceeds this nation average.  Hunger hits people who are hard working, yet are often unable to  keep a roof over their heads and feed their families. One of the most tragic elements, is that hunger does not have to be a problem.

By supporting such programs as Second Harvest, financially or thru volunteerism, we can eliminate the hunger in our area.  For more information or to support  the Second Harvest initiative to eliminate hunger, please contact Dr. Lou Pack, President of Second Harvest  at (770) 335-9201  or Linda Maples, Vice President at (404) 405- 3729.