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January 19, 2005
Significant grants pave the way to food for
hungry Alabamans
Food going to waste in Alabama has been used for the past
several years to feed the hungry throughout the state thanks to the
efforts of the Society of St. Andrew (SoSA). Now this national
faith-based nonprofit hunger relief organization is opening a statewide
regional office in Birmingham.
“We have the perfect staff person already working in Alabama,” said
SoSA’s Executive Director, Ken Horne. “There is a great deal of need
throughout the state. And food is going to waste. It only makes sense
for the Society of St. Andrew to open a full-fledged regional office
that will work tirelessly to save food and feed hungry Alabamans. With
generous grants recently received from The UPS Foundation, the Alabama
Farmers Federation and Alfa Insurance, we are now able to do just that.”
“This is the Society of St. Andrew’s fourth full regional office and it
will enable us to dramatically increase program activity in the
south-central part of the U.S.,” said Mike Waldmann, the organization’s
Director of Operations. “Rachel Gonia, a longtime SoSA friend and
employee, is heading up the office, which is located in space offered by
Wilson Chapel United Methodist Church. Rachel has been laying the
groundwork for a statewide Gleaning Network for the past year or so. She
has already established a healthy and growing network of farmers,
volunteers, feeding agencies and supporters to ensure success.”
“Over the last few years,” said Gonia, “the United Methodist Church in
Alabama has ‘led the way’ in SoSA’s gleaning efforts through its Hunger
Relief Advocate program and the ‘Change the World’ program of the North
Alabama Conference. The establishment of the Alabama Regional Office
will allow for the expansion of a truly ecumenical movement committed to
ending hunger in Alabama,” she continued. Last year Gonia distributed
more than 300,000 pounds of produce to the hungry and hurting. “With
15.2% of the Alabama population living in poverty, continuing to grow
the Gleaning Network will place more fresh fruits and vegetables on the
tables of those who might otherwise not have enough to eat,” she
explained.
Gonia, who lives in Alexander City, has named Laura Guffin as program
coordinator charged with continued expansion of the Gleaning Network.
“Laura is now also the Hunger Relief Advocate for North Alabama,”
reported Gonia, “working in coordination with Chuck Christian, SoSA’s
Hunger Relief Advocate for the Alabama-West Florida area since 2001. Her
major responsibility under both job titles is to expand gleaning
statewide. The more farmers and volunteers we bring into the network,
the more excess food we can save, deliver and donate to agencies that
feed the hungry.”
A significant grant from The UPS Foundation has opened the door to
establishing the Alabama regional office. The UPS Foundation identifies
specific areas where its support will clearly impact social issues. The
Foundation’s major initiatives currently include programs that support
increased nationwide volunteerism, family and workplace literacy and
hunger relief. “This UPS grant to the Society of St. Andrew will most
certainly advance those initiatives in the area of volunteerism and
hunger relief,” said Waldmann. In 2003, The UPS Foundation donated more
than $39.8 million to charitable organizations worldwide.
In presenting a gift of $20,000 to SoSA, Alfa Insurance President Jerry
Newby said, “The Society of St. Andrew is making a tremendous impact in
the lives of people, and Alfa and the Alabama Farmers Federation are
proud to be able to support its work here in Alabama.”
The Society of St. Andrew bridges the hunger gap between 96 Billion
pounds of food wasted in the U.S. every year and the 36 million
Americans who regularly are at risk of hunger. SoSA salvages fresh
produce that otherwise will go to waste and distributes it to serving
agencies at a cost of less than 5 cents per pound. It is the nation’s
largest gleaner of fresh produce donated to feed hungry Americans, each
year saving as much as 40 million pounds of perfectly good,
nutritious food that will not make it to market. SoSA’s major
hunger-relief programs are the Potato Project, the Gleaning Network,
Harvest of Hope, and the Hunger Relief Advocate Initiative, which feed
the hungry with the help of 30,000-40,000 volunteers each year. The
Society of St. Andrew maintains an operating overhead of about 5%, which
means that about 95 cents of every donated dollar goes directly into
providing food for the hungry. SoSA distributes food to the 48
contiguous states and has Gleaning Network operations in 21 states,
including its national headquarters in Virginia and regional offices in
Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and now Alabama.
For more information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger
relief programs: call toll free 800-333-4597; e-mail – sosausa@endhunger.org
web site – www.endhunger.org. The Society of St. Andrew – Gleaning
America’s Fields ~ Feeding America’s Hungry.
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