One of the many blessings of the Christmas and holiday season is a heightened spirit of generosity and the Statesboro Food Bank is always a beneficiary of our community’s kindness.

“A lot of companies, individual business, churches and organizations do food drives during the holiday season,” said Sheila Stewart-Leach, executive director of The Food Bank Inc. “We live in a phenomenally generous community that recognizes when people are in crisis situations, government help is not enough and they need to pitch in themselves.”

Stewart-Leach, previously curator for the Averitt Center for the Arts and a consultant to museums and other nonprofits, was named the Food Bank executive director in January. 

“This is my first year leading the Food Bank,” she said, “but when November hits, it’s clear people feel a greater need to help their neighbors by donating food.”

The food donations help hundreds of local families have a less stressful and merrier Christmas, but with the holidays winding down, Stewart-Leach said the Food Bank needs assistance on several levels to ensure they can support the community’s needs all year long.

And monetary donations are needed perhaps more than the public knows. While food donated comes in every day, the Food Bank still must purchase food regularly to properly serve the community.

The primary source to buy food from is Second Harvest in Savannah, which is subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and private corporations. 

Stewart-Leach said Second Harvest charges 19 cents per pound, but that does not include starches or breakfast foods 

 “When we put together food boxes for families and individuals that include balanced meals, we need to have rice, pasta, cereal, oatmeal, grits. So, we regularly purchase those items for the boxes.”

The Food Bank also buys eggs, milk and most of its bread.

“Cash donations defray the cost of staffing,” Stewart-Leach said. “We have a lot of volunteers that we rely heavily on, but we must have leadership staff on the floor to help with the process of putting together all the meal boxes in a manner that families are sure to receive proper nutrition.

“We also use cash donations to help pay for utilities and the other costs of running a business. The Food Bank is a non-profit charity, but it is also a business and must be run responsibly.”

Also, after many years operating out of the old Julia P. Bryant Elementary School, the Food Bank broke ground on what will be its own facility back in June. However, the Food Bank has raised $1.3 million of the $2 million needed to build its new home and needs to raise the difference to make that a reality. 

Here at the Statesboro Herald, when we were discussing publishing our pictorial keepsake “My Places, My People,” we wanted to show off the best of our community as documented by Herald photographer Scott Bryant during the past year. And we wanted to partner with the Food Bank, which will receive $5 from the purchase of each book.

I hope we can give the Food Bank a generous check in the coming weeks and throughout the new year thanks to proceeds from “My Places, My People.” It makes a great gift anytime of the year and I promise you will thumb through it for years to come, soaking in a few memories and appreciating our community.  

Actually, the Food Bank is an example of the best parts of our community – Helping our neighbors at a time when, perhaps, they need it most.

“If you have good nutrition and get enough to eat, you can be a better employee, a better student, a better parent,” Stewart-Leach said. “Your life will have a chance to run more successfully if you know where the next meal is coming from. Most of us take that for granted. We serve people who can’t take that for granted.”