Some county kids not fed on weekends

“Y’all might not believe it, but there are some children here in Madison County that aren’t getting fed on the weekends,” John Becker, president of the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, told county commissioners Jan. 25. “The kids will come in to school and they can’t study Monday and Tuesday. All they’re doing is thinking about their stomach, trying to get filled up with free lunch. The parents really aren’t taking care of them.”

Becker said the food bank has started a “Food to Kids” program to help combat this problem. He said the program helps feed kids over the weekend, getting them back in school on Mondays ready to study.

Becker offered an overview of food bank services to the BOC Monday. He said he has been talking with people in Madison County about food needs. He said of the county’s approximately 28,000 people, roughly 3,386 people are living under the poverty line.

“For a single parent and a child, that’s about $13,000,” said Becker. “It’s not much money at all.”

He said there are another 1,000 people unemployed, “maybe more than that now.”

“So by my accounting, that’s 4,386 people who are in need of help,” said Becker.

The food bank president said that county churches and agencies have really been helping out the needy. He named several churches that have been helpful: Colbert First Baptist, Living Waters Holiness, Freedom Church of God, Moon’s Grove, Riverside and Waggoner’s Grove Baptist Church — “just to name a few.”

“Over the last year we’ve seen a lot of things declining, but food coming from the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia into Madison County has not,” said Becker, who noted that 410,000 pounds of food was distributed last year, up from 243,000 in 2008. “Our commitment here is to make sure that folks who can’t afford to eat, they’re going to get some food.”