A new coalition of local churches is joining a program to provide at least 1,000 food baskets to the Owensboro community Tuesday at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church from 4-7 p.m.
The Owensboro Coalition of Concerned Churches will be working with members of Feeding America, the United States Department of Agriculture and COVID Farm Assistance Program in the effort to give back.
The food relief will include 59 pounds of food per vehicle — including 19 pounds of dried goods, 20 pounds of dairy products, and 20 pounds of fresh produce.
The projected impact will provide relief to approximately 1,400 local families. No signatures are required, and no questions are asked upon arrival.
The funding for this large scale project comes from CFAP, which provides direct relief to America’s farmers who are facing challenges due to COVID-19. This $3 billion program has already distributed 10 million food boxes to food banks and nonprofits. The food comes from farmers who have experienced supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The USDA is teaming up with community organizations to provide free produce and dairy products to the public regardless of income or need. Farmers sell food previously destined for restaurants and bulk purchasers to distributors, preventing waste.
USDA has partnered with Prairie Farms to package family-sized boxes with fresh produce, dairy and meat products. These items are then transported to nonprofits across America. Other organizations such as Gleaners Food Bank and Tri-State Food Bank contributed to the OCCC’s food relief program in Owensboro.
The idea to hold the event started at a July 7 meeting regarding race relations in the community, when Sami Schwoeppe suggested to the Rev. Tim Hall of Free Will Baptist Church that they hold a local food relief program for the residents of Owensboro.
“She said, ‘Let’s just launch this from our church,’” Hall said. “I loved the idea of not only feeding the needy, but helping with race relations at the same time. With the turmoil over race happening across America, we wanted to pull blacks and whites of our city together to erase that. We don’t believe it’s as big of an issue here as it is in other places, but we still wanted to help in any way we could.”
Between 10-15 churches have contributed to the event as well, Hall said, and all are part of the OCCC. Those churches have come together to pay for a number of items that will also be available at Tuesday’s event, including copies of the Bible, DVDs pertaining to the Christian religion and a gospel soundtrack. Those items will be handed out to those receiving food if they want them, Hall said.
If all goes well Tuesday, this event could happen again in the near future, Hall said.
“There may be an opportunity to hold this event on the same scale in September or October again,” he said. “We may do it on the east side next time because it may be difficult for everyone who needs food to make it to our location.”
