State lawmakers and community leaders gather with Golden Harvest to address hunger

Bria Smith
·2 min read

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – State lawmakers and Community Leaders joining together with Golden Harvest Food Bank, Thursday morning to Address Hunger throughout the area.

“In the state of Georgia, the highest growth population group will be 16 or 65 and over,” Feeding Georgia Executive Director Danah Craft said.

“It speaks to the emergency that there is a need for folks to have food on their table,” District 1 Commissioner Jordan Johnson said.

The latest Data from the USDA shows that 87.2% of Americans faced food insecurity throughout 2022, and right here in the CSRA one in seven face that battle.

“Poverty, homelessness, food insecurity just looks different… just seeing that the need is growing across our 25-county service area, and not just in one particular area,” Golden Harvest Neighbor Advocate Matthew Enfinger said.

Golden Harvest and Feeding Georgia are working with lawmakers and community leaders to speak about how they can help.

“If our elected officials walked a mile in my client’s shoes, only, maybe for just a couple of hours, try to do the SNAP benefit online– the frustration with that,” GAP Ministries of Augusta’ Nomi Stanton said.

“We’ve been working extremely hard to open grocery stores in our area, we’ve signed an MOU to open up a grocery store in the Laney Walker community, but there’s still so many more gaps that we have to fill,” Johnson said.

ALSO ON WJBF: Youth Leadership Augusta had their Community Leadership Day at the Kroc Center

Which is why folks on the panel discussion had one important question.

“How can we go, ‘what’s the next step?’” Golden Harvest’s Child and Senior Program Specialist Sandy Wyman asked.

A question they’re already working hard to fill in the blank for.

“Part of the backpack program, we partner with some schools and we bring backpacks, and once a week they deliver the backpacks to the students in a very confidential manner, and that food will go home for the weekend for school breaks,” Wyman said.

“Meeting them where they’re at, servicing them where they’re at, whether that be geographically or what they can handle as far as cooking and access,” Enfinger said.

Golden Harvest’s Stamp Out Food Hunger initiative post offices collecting food donations in the following areas:

Georgia: Downtown Augusta, Forest Hills, Evans, Martinez, Grovetown, Hephzibah, Appling Peach Orchard.

South Carolina: Johnston, Edgefield, Graniteville, Trenton, New Ellenton, Williston, Barnwell.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJBF.