Food bank reaches hungry mouths throughout Middle Georgia

Tucked behind a McDonald’s and Texaco off Ocmulgee East Boulevard, a warehouse filled with pallets of canned goods, frozen fruits and veggies, meats and cheeses serves as a key distribution hub for food that will eventually reach hungry mouths throughout Middle Georgia. 

The Middle Georgia Community Food Bank feeds folks across 24 different counties through partnerships with 200 nonprofit organizations including food pantries, emergency shelters, soup kitchens, backpack programs, churches and group homes.

“A lot of people think a food bank is a food pantry,” president and CEO of the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank Kathy McCollum said. 

Food distribution is no small operation. Orders are packaged in the warehouse and the food bank’s fleet of five box trucks and a tractor trailer deliver orders from partner organizations and pick up donations. 

“They think they’re coming to the back room at the local church to get a sack of groceries,” McCollum said. “That’s not what we are.”

Meandering past offices and conference rooms through a room filled with donations from a Walmart food drive, McCollum pushes open a door leading to the heart of their operation. 

Inside, pallets of food are stacked atop one another and forklift operators maneuver through aisles of food organized by type. Past the aisles of nonperishable foods, a walk-in freezer the size of a basketball gym stores pallets of cold food.

Where does the food come from?

The food bank sources food in three ways: through the USDA’s charitable food network, by purchase with donated funds or by donation from companies or private individuals. 

The food bank recently received a pallet of donated Capri Sun juices, a tractor trailer of apples from the USDA and excess food from nearby grocery stores. Sometimes the organization receives donations of non-food items, such as diapers — necessities they gladly accept. 

Other times, the food bank will buy more expensive items that aren’t often donated, such as pop-top cans of spaghetti rings for the backpack program, because it’s something kids can enjoy that doesn’t require a can opener. 

Everything is catalogued in an online inventory system and partner agencies can go online to place an order. 

Staff at the food bank like DeAndre Blue fulfill the orders, preparing them for pickup or delivery. Blue has worked for the food bank for nearly two years and noted that the team behind the food bank are “good people.”

A growing movement 

As the need for food has grown, so too have the food bank’s operations. What began in 1982 with a $1,000 startup fund from United Way and a Macon reverend who took inspiration from a similar effort in Atlanta has turned into an operation run by a 24-person staff focusing on delivery, food sourcing and warehouse operations with the shared goal of serving the community one mouth at a time. There’s an employee dedicated to helping folks apply for SNAPS benefits. 

The food bank first began operations on a much smaller scale, using a pickup truck and operating out of Macon Rescue Mission’s basement. In 2006, the organization expanded by moving into their current location, a former alcohol distributorship warehouse. 

In 2021, the organization expanded even further with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act and the county. The new renovations allowed for a larger parking area for heavy pickup and delivery traffic and provided more office space for volunteers and staff. 

The food bank has also been an affiliate of Feeding America since 1993, which fosters collaboration between other organizations while opening opportunities to raise more money. 

Every time someone within the food bank’s coverage area chooses to round their total up to assist Feeding America at partnering grocery stores, that money goes towards the food bank’s efforts — every dime counts, McCollum assured. 

Local partnerships

In looking towards the new year, she said the organization hopes to bring more resources to rural areas. Although Bibb County has more than 50 food pantries to serve the community, other areas only have one. 

Just four years ago, McCollum recalled, five of the counties within the food bank’s coverage area had no food pantry. Since then the food bank has worked to ensure each county has at least one, but maintaining a partnership can be challenging. Treutlen County currently doesn’t have a food pantry because the church that originally partnered with the food bank can no longer continue. McCollum’s team aims to find a new partnership in the county. 

“These are the heroes of it,” she said, pointing to a group of men from Mustard Seed Ministries in Wilkinson County who were loading a food order into the back of a pickup truck parked outside of the food bank’s loading area. “It wouldn’t do us any good to have a bunch of food in the warehouse here.”

Mustard Seed Ministries is one of the food bank’s 200 partner agencies. The ministry serves more than 75 families by giving out 50 pounds of food to each family on the first and third Saturdays of every month. Folks from the ministry come to the food bank to pick up their food order twice a month.

“We’re picking up a big load today,” said Jimmy Youmans of Mustard Seed Ministries. “We’re getting 4,000 pounds today. Normally, we get about 2,000.”

Marion Owens, a military veteran, has been volunteering to give out food to other veteran families and those in need for nearly 20 years. For Owens, the highlight of his work is seeing the smiles of those he’s helped. 

Food insecurity

The number of food insecure folks or those who have limited access to sufficient food options in the 24 Middle Georgia counties has increased by 25% in the last year to 106,940, compared to last year’s 85,360, McCollum said.

Of the 716,713 folks within the food bank’s coverage area, one in seven are food insecure and nearly a quarter are children, according to the food bank’s website. 

Collaboration between the food bank and local partners like Owens and Youmans is needed now more than ever. No one wants children to go hungry during the holidays, or any time of the year, McCollum noted. 

“Folks who are here, not only come because it’s a job, they come because they have a heart for what we do,” she said. “They know that when they’re moving around pallets of food or individual cases of food that they are doing really important work.”