Story: Thanksgiving meal at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hall County
Want to donate?These groups still are holding food drives:
- Memorial Park Funeral Homes and Cemeteries will be collecting canned goods from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays until Dec. 15, at its locations at 2030 Memorial Park Road, 989 Riverside Drive and 4121 Falcon Parkway. Hall County Fire Services also will be collecting canned goods through Dec. 15 at all area fire stations. Donations go to the Chattahoochee Baptist Good Samaritan Food Bank.
- Through today, Hall Area Transit’s Red Rabbit will be collecting canned goods in boxes on each bus. Those giving a donation ride for free. All the food collected will be donated to the Salvation Army.
The kids at Enota Multiple Intelligences Academy collected thousands of cans of food during their recent food drive, and Georgia Mountain Food Bank Project Coordinator Kay Blackstock said she was blown away when she arrived to pick up the food Tuesday.
"It was just an overwhelming response," Blackstock said. "The kids and the faculty and the parents just did a fantastic job."
Blackstock said she thinks working with the food bank can be a great educational opportunity for schools.
"I think it’s excellent to get the children involved in philanthropy," Blackstock said.
A teacher said the school collected 2,609 cans.
The food bank also got food from groups like the Young Leaders of the United Way.
"They brought their food in two huge pickup trucks this morning," Blackstock said of the group, which she estimates collected about 4,000 cans.
D.S. Waters in Flowery Branch donated between 500 and 600 cans, according to Blackstock.
"That’s going to make a big impact for local agencies," Blackstock said.
The food collected during these food drives will help relieve some of the strain local charitable organizations are experiencing right now.
"It’s readily available; there’s a wide variety of it, and it comes to them at no cost, all donated," Blackstock said.
As the need for food increases throughout the state, Blackstock said food drives in the community are more important than ever.
"The Georgia Mountain Food Bank being a brand new organization, to have so many businesses and schools and civic organizations come together to do these food drives ... it’s just amazing, and we look forward to that on an ongoing basis. Volunteers are the lifeblood of any food bank," Blackstock said.