-
food
A food drive planned for this weekend is aiming to feed the hungry amid the pandemic and could still use some donations from the public.
The event, dubbed “Operation Feed Hartwell COVID-19 Community Relief” is sponsored by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), a nonprofit organization which represents workers across the nation and in Hart County, representative Darrell Copeland told The Sun.
The group is working with Impact Church of Hartwell to feed at least 300 families, who may have been negatively affected by COVID-19 and the resulting unemployment, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 20.
Families in need can drive to the Bell’s Shopping Center Saturday morning where tents will be set up to distribute food. Visitors won’t need to exit their vehicles, Copeland said, as volunteers wearing personal protective equipment will load groceries into a car or trunk.
Care packages, containing approximately 5 to 10 pounds of meat and non-perishable food items, will be distributed for free to families who need it. Copeland said anyone in the community is eligible to come by and receive food.
“It won’t change lives, but hopefully it will help for a little bit,” Copeland said about giving families several days worth of food.
Since the pandemic started, BCTGM has sponsored several food drives across the country, Copeland said, including one at Salem Church in Atlanta and another in Philadelphia.
Copeland said they chose Hartwell because they saw a need for a food drive in the area.
“We just want to make sure we can feed the community and do anything we can to help out the community,” Copeland said. “(COVID-19) affects more people than what we really think.”
Donations can be brought to Impact Church, located at 180 Athens Street, the day of the food drive.
For more information about the food drive, contact Darrell Copeland at 240-271-8319.