Here & There Column 5-17-11

Help Keep The Food Drives Going

Helping the community and giving back to your local community promotes the spirit of giving and this was very evident recently when we covered a story we wrote about the Liberty Curves Franchisor Jennifer Smith who's members brought in 610 pounds of food for the 2011 13th annual organization food drive.
The local Sullivan County CACHE Food Pantry benefited from this food drive which in turn is distributed to 30 sites throughout the county. It is almost unbelievable that every day hunger is experienced in every community across this great country of ours and ending hunger depends on the volunteer work of literally millions of Americans who know they do make a difference. Locally the interfaith effort by community volunteers under the leadership of Pastor J. Wallace, president of the Interfaith Council Of Liberty (ICOL) proved successful last year when an organization dinner-dance raised almost $2,000 for the ICOL food pantry.
The ICOL food pantry specifically helps feed the needy who are allowed to come once a month where they get a bag of food containing tuna fish, 2 cans of soup, 2 cans of vegetables, 1 can of fruit, 1 can of pasta sauce, a box of spaghetti pasta, 1 box of macaroni and cheese, 1 box of rice, a can of beans, 1 box of tea bags and 1 container of hot chocolate. There is also pastries and bread donated by local supermarkets.
Director of the IFCL Henrietta Phelps yearly thanks the many local citizens, the Liberty Post Office staff and the Liberty schools who help so much with their food drives. There are many ways to help out in your local community through activities such as tutoring students in our local elementary and high schools, repackaging donated food for use at food pantries and transporting food to local agencies.
All of our local food pantries can use help through activities such as sorting, boxing and repackaging donated food. Despite signs that the economy might be brightening the hunger and homelessness issues remain an issue of deep concern.
Figures available show that about 2.3 million to 3.5 million Americans do not have a place that they can call home to sleep in at night and along with this hunger plays a major role in their lives.
The efforts of organizations like the Interfaith Council of Liberty, various church and religious organizations, CACHE, and volunteer efforts by companies like Curves deserve a big pat on the back for helping the needs of our community's less fortunate residents.
We can all help with donations of food products.