Employees and volunteers at St. Mary’s Health Care System donated more than 200 turkeys to the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia and the Green County Food Pantry to help families in need this holiday season. Mark Ralston is Public Relations manager with St. Mary’s. He says the donation has become an annual tradition at the facility.
“So this year, our colleagues and volunteers donated 218 turkeys which comes to about 3,700 pounds of food to the food bank,” according to Ralston. “And that’s a real boon for the folks who are in need this time of year.”
Ralston says that ton and a half of turkey will allow the Food bank of Northeast of Northeast Georgia to help families at risk of hunger across Northeast Georgia.
“That’s a small part of what the Food Bank distributes every year, where they give more than 11 million pounds of food to families throughout our communities through more than 225 agencies such as soup kitchens and food pantries, churches, nonprofit hunger-relief organizations. And that’s not just here in Athens-Clarke county, but it’s in a 14-county region around us.”
In Greene County, colleagues and volunteers with St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital donated 30 turkeys to the Greene County Food Pantry. Since its founding in 2007, the charity has served more than 5,500 families, and over 60 percent of those assisted are senior citizens living below the poverty level.
