Food Distribution Program
St. Vincent de Paul, in partnership with Kroger and other grocery retailers, have joined together to fight hunger in north Georgia. Each month SVdP will pickup a projected 25,000 pounds of perishable food from designated stores to re-distribute to clients through the Society’s four Family Support Centers, 38 Conference food pantries and specified partner agencies. The area for this distribution is within the 35 counties of north and middle Georgia served by SVdP Atlanta.
St. Vincent de Paul members have the unique privilege and ability to meet people where they are, to assess their needs, instill hope and provide help by giving people the ability to confront the obstacles they face and rise with more than an emergency Band-Aid. It is out mission and desire to offer ideas, suggestions and corrections that will improve the client’s present state and guide and support them on the road to greater independence and self-sufficiency. Two strategic programs are the focus of SVdP as it proceeds in attaining its goals.
The Food Distribution Program has provided over 135,000 pounds of perishable food which augmented the quantity and quality of food provided to 22,000 households since its inception in 2010. With the pilot program complete, SVdP has increased the number of store pick-ups to nine, and within the next six months will include 22 total stores. This will allow SVdP to distribute in excess of 35,000 pounds of food per month increasing access to perishable food and better nutrition, to an estimated 2,700 households each month. The target population is families (average of four persons) living at, or below the Federal Poverty level of household income of $28,600 annually. According to the USDA, weekly food costs for a family of four is $162 to $245 depending on food selection. Providing a better nutritional balance of perishable and non-perishable foods, offers a family a more healthy diet and allows them to apply their savings to other critical costs. Our goal is increase our ability to provide access to good nutritional food for the increasing number of at-risk households, along with the other services provided in our support centers, assisting families in their pursuit of a higher degree of self-sufficiency, reducing dependency and affording them a new degree of stability.
The increase in the number of stores and the anticipated addition of Walmart stores in the near future, SVdP plans to create regional distribution hubs at strategic Family Support Center (FSC) locations. In addition to the existing sites at Chamblee, West End Atlanta, Dallas and McDonough, plans are being finalized for two additional FSCs in Cobb and Gwinnett Counties. As part of the short-term regional distribution plan, an additional walk-in cooling unit is needed in the existing Family Support Center in Dallas, Georgia and would serve local Conference food pantries and collaborating agencies in Paulding, Douglas, West Cobb, and Cherokee Counties. The two new Centers in Gwinnett and Cobb Counties will be operational in 2012 and become regional distribution sites for those areas. The long term plan includes the potential of an additional distribution site in South Atlanta which would benefit the Conferences and partner food pantries south of the city limits.