St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens, along with Sacred Heart in Lavonia are providing more than 2,000 free food boxes to community residents in need.
The Farmers to Families Food Box Program will hand out 30 to 40-pound boxes to anyone coming through their drive-through line. Dr. Tamara Bourda is Regional VP of Community Health and Wellbeing with the facility. She explains how the process works.
"We definitely wanted to move forward and address food and security and so these food boxes will have fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, and eggs and well have approximately 1,250 food boxes at each hospital. There aren't any eligibility requirements, we're asking that community members in need of food just show up at each of the hospitals, we'll have a drive-thru style."
The program is the result of $3 billion from the USDA’s Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
"In Athens, our food drive will be Saturday, October 31st, 9 am to noon, and it's going to be at St. Mary's Hospital and the address is going to be 139 Alps Rd. so we'll have it situated where you can enter through the oust of the Broad St. entrances."
No registration or proof of need is required. The boxes are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
*St. Mary's is an underwriter for WUGA.
