'More pressure on us to supply': Golden Harvest helps hungry families feeling impact of inflation

Aug. 23—Editor's note: This is the second article in a three-part series focusing on the impact of inflation and rising costs on local food banks serving the Aiken County area.

The Golden Harvest Food Bank located on 3310 Commerce Drive in Augusta, Georgia, is the one serving our local area. This Golden Harvest serves 25 counties in Georgia and South Carolina, comprising 19 in Georgia and six in South Carolina which together make up 11,000 square miles.

That may sound like an overwhelming number of mouths to feed, but for Golden Harvest, it has been business as usual since 1982.

Amy Breitmann is the CEO and president of the Golden Harvest Food Bank which in her area alone runs in 25 counties between Georgia and South Carolina.

Their mission is to "transform lives by feeding our neighbors today and building a healthy and hunger-free tomorrow."

Practically speaking, that means each Golden Harvest relieves hunger and want in each of their assigned areas of 25 counties by providing supplies for every one of their partners and programs that provide food and other supplies in their assigned area.

That means that every food pantry, homeless shelter, soup kitchen, Boys and Girls Club, and charity that works with them gets most of their food and other supplies from Golden Harvest. According to their website, each Golden Harvest serves over 300 partner agencies and programs.

Each Golden Harvest Food Bank's assigned area is a large area which is a part of the larger Feeding America Network which has 200 Golden Harvest Food Banks across the country.

The Golden Harvest Food Bank serving locally, like its 199 other sisters, is the supplier for the over 300 partner programs in our area. The food and other supplies are sent to the main warehouse on Commerce Drive and distributed to the charities in all 25 counties from there.

One of those locations is the Aiken Golden Harvest Food Bank on 81 Capital Drive.

According to Ed Chavis, the food bank manager, the Aiken location is the warehouse where food is gathered before it is distributed to the six counties in South Carolina.

"We are all part of the same organization," Breitmann said. "We serve six counties in South Carolina. Some food will come to the main warehouse in Augusta. A lot of it goes straight to the warehouses in Aiken due to federal and state contracts."

One example of those programs is a South Carolina senior program that provides 400 seniors with fruits, vegetables, soups, canned meats, pasta and rice.

Last year, 12 million meals were distributed. This year, they are on target toward the same number of meals.

There are several main ways that Golden Harvest Food Bank receives food.

The primary method is through donations. Most donations come from large retailers like Publix, Target or Walmart. Some local, state and national farmers will donate their crops to offer the food pantry fresh produce. The food bank will accept food from individuals during food drives such as It's Spooky to Be Hungry every October.

The secondary method is purchasing food at a discounted price. The purchases are contracted through the USDA. There are requirements for how and where it is distributed since it is federal food.

The pandemic brought a peak in people who needed assistance due to job loss, children out of school away from school lunches, seniors who couldn't leave their homes to go to grocery stores, and shortages within grocery stores, Breitmann said. Inflation has brought another peak.

"I think what we're seeing now is the impact," said Breitmann. "We're seeing waves of new people because of inflation so gas prices, grocery prices, housing costs increasing. It means that a lot of families and seniors are stretching their dollars, trying to make their budget work, and run out of funds because their housing costs have gone up, their gas prices have gone up, their childcare has gone up, if you can find it. So, it just means a lot more people are turning to pantries and soup kitchens and all those places, which then places more pressure on us to supply more food to those locations."

The example Breitmann gave was about Emanuel County. In Emanuel County, about 200 families had been served a month. In the past couple of months, the numbers have grown from 200 to 600 families.

Keeping up has been difficult, says Breitmann, especially since Golden Harvest is in the middle of fundraising and an $8.7 million expansion construction project.

"The hardest part of the job is knowing that we have people who are struggling with hunger in all these counties," Breitmann said. "I think the most beautiful part of the job is knowing that every day we're taking steps to alleviate pain, you know, and ultimately hunger from the lives of seniors and families and children and that we all do that. We all contribute to that no matter what our role is at the food bank — that we are just working towards making sure that nobody goes hungry. It is extremely rewarding, and I think that everything we do is focused on really making the world a better place so it makes it really easy to come to work even though it's a really hard job. We all work really, really hard and long days; and we know we're making a difference in what we do."

If anyone would like to help, what food banks need are volunteers, not just for the warehouses but for places like the Master's Table Soup Kitchen in downtown Augusta. That soup kitchen is open 365 days a year and serves a hot meal for lunch every single day. It takes about 40 volunteers a day to get that done in addition to the full-time staff that is already there.

In addition, Golden Harvest could use financial donations. Every dollar creates three meals for them because of their purchasing power. The money goes directly to the kitchen so they can feed hungry families.