When you think of canned food drives, you probably think drives organized around Christmastime or the holidays. For Primerica Financial Services, the work to “can” hunger in the local community is a year-round effort. Now, this work is more important than ever as local food banks struggle to keep up with increased demand in this tough economy.
“The problem is not the lack of food but limited access to the food which is available,” says Primerica’s Program and Events Coordinator Renee Carter. “Food banks provide the access linking people to food. We want to be a positive link in this chain of action.”
Primerica works with the Lilburn Co-Op, and held two company-wide food drives in 2008. A summer food drive netted more than 7,000 items and employees donated another 10,000 items during a food drive in November. Another major food drive campaign will kick off in July. “I spoke with the director of the Lilburn Co-Op and she stated that the summer food drive is most important because so many families depend on the state’s free breakfast and lunch programs,” Renee says. “During the summer this is not available to families in need and children of school age sometimes miss meals. It is hard on some families to provide three square meals per day.”