Community goes nuts for Second Harvest
The creamy (or crunchy) goodness was donated as one part of an even larger event, as people filed in for Second Harvest’s 5th annual Hunger Action Month kickoff event and networking breakfast.
“This is our fifth annual Hunger Action Month kickoff,” said Kristi Rule, the chief development officer for Second Harvest. “Five years ago, we worked with the Farragut Chamber, and Vicki Williams was really the driving force. She and some other community sponsors decided this was a great opportunity to raise awareness, bring the community together and learn more about our mission and what we’re doing.”
Hunger Action Month runs Sept. 1-30, as Second Harvest and Feeding America lead the month-long campaign to raise awareness and fight local food insecurity.
“We get to introduce the food bank to so many people who may not know how we serve, what we do and how important this work is,” said Rule, who acknowledged the importance of Williams with Movement Mortgage, Casey Mynatt with City Wide Facility Solutions, Daniel Monday with Slamdot and Aaron Creasy with Junk Galaxy.
The event featured a suggested donation amount of $15 or more for tumblers and $30 or more for T-shirts. There also were door prizes given away, as well as a video shown to feature the massive warehouse that sits just a few feet from the 693 pounds of peanut butter collected that morning.
Incredibly, that warehouse can hold more than 146 semi-truck loads of food at once. Every two weeks, food products rotate out to more than 700 agencies that partner with Second Harvest.
More than 200,000 East Tennesseans are served through the work done in this warehouse, which makes up a total of 52,000 square feet.
Yet if incoming donations and supplies stopped completely, that entire room would empty in less than two weeks, per the Second Harvest website.
“So this is our big call to action, our chance to bring awareness to the hunger our neighbors face,” Volunteer Coordinator Aaron Walton said. “Because we’re only two missed paychecks away from food insecurity, so it’s important to bring everyone together and get community support to help feed our neighbors and help us get through the holiday season. And peanut butter is high in protein and nutritious, but it’s also very versatile.”
“The amount of peanut butter we have after this event will be outstanding, especially since school has just started,” Second Harvest CEO Rachael Ellis added. “Shelf stable, high protein and expensive, quite frankly, so we are excited for people to bring that item.”
That support was reflected as the jars piled up throughout Thursday morning’s event. And when the room became packed with people, Ellis couldn’t help but think of one person missing out on the fun.
“This week we all lost a legend in Dolly Parton,” she said. “But I feel like this entire crowd has brought light, kindness and generosity back into the community, and I believe she would be really proud of that. It means a whole lot to us. Look how many people are here; it’s just incredible. And the more people are here, the more we have an opportunity to share our mission of feeding the community.”
