By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereport.com
The Hamilton County Reporter recently stopped by to see how the Feeding Team fills all those yellow pantries.
One of the things we learned is that of the 40 pantries in Hamilton County, 23 are filled directly by Feeding Team volunteers. The remaining 17 are self-sustaining, which means they are filled by volunteers coordinated by the locations where they are installed.
“When launched, the statistics were that there were 27,000 food insecure residents of Hamilton County,” Charity Rosandich told The Reporter. “The updated count is 44,000. Those numbers come to us from Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank, and ‘food-insecure’ is defined as someone who doesn’t know where one or more of their daily three meals is coming from.”
According to Rosandich, Feeding Team started with six pantries in spring 2020. They now have 49 – 40 of which are in Hamilton County.
“Feeding Team initially put out under 1,000 meals that first month, with donations and contributions from area partners,” Rosandich said. “In November of 2022, the goal of 10,000 meals per month was met and a new goal of 12,000 meals per month has been set. We have two new pantries waiting for deployment and several locations on the waiting list for them.”
If you would like to help either by volunteering or donating, you can learn more at FeedingTeam.org.