Small emergency food bank gathers year’s worth of canned goods during annual ‘Can-a-Thon’

[image credit: onlineathens.com]

Food bank lacks staffing to gather donations year-round

Today, the emergency food bank assists about 50 families in Athens-Clarke County each week, Ramos said.
Although the emergency food bank has been around 13 years longer than the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, it’s sometimes in the shadow of the larger agency, Ramos said.
“We often get overshadowed by the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia,” Ramos admitted. “When you have a tiny, two-person operation with a small budget in the same community as a food bank with a multimillion-dollar budget and a lot more employees, it’s hard to get the same recognition and visibility.”

Solution: Annual can drive brings in a year's worth of food

The cans are collected each November in area schools and delivered to the food bank to be sorted, organized, packaged and distributed to people referred to the agency, said Executive Director Kim Ramos.

The 13 tons of cans collected — up about two tons from last year — will help stock the food bank’s shelves for the upcoming year.

“The majority of the cans (the food bank) receives come from Can-A-Thon, but we continue to need donations throughout the year for non-canned items,” said director Kim Ramos, who has been with the emergency food bank for 17 years.

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