The Food Bank, Inc. of Statesboro announced Thursday the appointment of six new board members for the beginning of the 2024 – 2025 fiscal year.
Donald Chavers, Joel Hanner, Michelle Lammers, Rebecca Lau, LeAnne Robinson and Jennifer Wynn join the board that in the past year has overseen Statesboro’s Food Bank move into a new food pantry and education facility at Miller Street and Northside Drive West, across from Food World.
The agency provides approximately 14,700 meals for an average of 175 families per week. It also serves families and individuals in surrounding communities.
The Food Bank is planning to hold its first fundraising event in the new building on Oct. 24. “Kaleidoscope: a Culinary Celebration” will include a meal, a silent auction, which will provide an “assist in building a hunger-free future for Statesboro and surrounding communities,” a release from the Food bank stated.
Tickets to the event are $37 per person and may be purchased from any board member or by contacting the Food Bank at (912) 386-1462. The $37 price is in honor of the Food Bank’s 37 years of service.
Finding a permanent place for the Food Bank had been a long-time dream of Joe Bill Brannon. A volunteer in the organization for more than 25 years and its de facto director for much of that time, Brannon died in June 2020 at age 82. Three years ago, Bulloch County Manager Tom Couch and Statesboro City Manager Charles Penny visited the Food Bank board with a proposal for the city and county to supply $1 million – committing $500,000 each from pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act federal funding – toward a new facility.
That new building, steel with concrete floors, measures 12,000 square feet.
The Joe Bill Brannon Pantry is the 6,500-square-foot storage area, with shelves that hold dry and canned foodstuffs and eight commercial freezers and eight upright commercial refrigerators in place for meat, milk and other perishables. Plans call for eventually four more freezers and four more refrigerators.
While still unfinished, the 5,500-square-foot front portion includes the offices, a dividable classroom for future programs such as nutrition and cooking classes, the kitchen and the dining hall.
“In the wake of Tropical Storm Debby, the Food Bank is still experiencing a high volume of need from those whose home were damaged,” the release said. “You can help with a financial donation, allowing the Food Bank to purchase needed food items directly from suppliers.
Donations are accepted through texting StopHunger to 53555 or mail a check to The Food Bank, Inc., PO Box 543, Statesboro, GA 30459.
In-kind food donations, as always, are accepted and may be dropped off between 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday – Friday. Food donations must be unopened /un-used items.