- More than 1,000 jars of PB&J were donated through a month-long drive led by Thomas County CARES.
- Local police, sheriff’s office, and businesses joined forces to help meet rising needs for children and seniors.
- A follow-up food drive is underway through July 1, gathering essentials like canned goods, rice, and shelf-stable meat.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
For some kids in Thomasville, a simple PB&J sandwich might be the only meal they get in a day this summer.
After collecting over 1,000 jars in just one month, Thomas County Cares is now launching a bigger food drive to make sure no child or elder goes hungry during the hottest, hungriest months of the year.
"For the need of the children, the children are out of school, and we felt as though they needed help supplementing because they were getting two meals at school, and now they're at home, and in hotels, and they're not getting those two meals," said Harper.
Cindy Harper, Director of Food & Nutrition Insecurities says that gap in meals is exactly why they launched the PB&J Drive to fill the lunchboxes of kids who were suddenly without their school meals.
"So we decided that that would be a way to help them because peanut butter and jelly is nutritious, it's filling, and our kids like peanut butter and jelly," said Harper.
And the drive didn't just meet expectations, it crushed them.
"We had an overwhelming response by our community. We had drop boxes in about 20 different locations. Some folks got very, very competitive. We had a request to get 600. That was our goal, but we exceeded that significantly by getting 1,006 jars," said Tammie Murphy, Executive director.
But even after all that, Tammie Murphy says the phone hasn't stopped ringing, especially from elderly neighbors and families in hotels, desperate for help.
"Currently we have about 55 families that are staying in hotels in Thomas County. And in addition to that, we have a lot of elderly that have now started reaching out. You know, they're living off of a social security check. Medical has now changed. Some of their medications have went up significantly. And so with that, they're having to decide, do I buy my medicine or do I buy food," said Murphy.
The Thomas County Cares Food Drive runs through July 1st. They're asking for items like canned goods, rice, vegetables, and shelf-stable meat — which you can drop off at their office at 518 Clay Street.
Want to see more local news? Visit the WTXL ABC 27 Website.
Stay in touch with us anywhere, anytime.
