The organization has raised more than 60,000 pounds of food to surpass their yearly goal early.
Thanks to the donations at local farmers markets and produce auctions, a local non-profit was able to surpass their yearly donation goal.
Community Food Initiatives, an organization that aims to provide equal access to healthy food for all, has passed their donation goal of 55,000 pounds of fresh food, which is distributed weekly. CFI surpassed their donation goal at the beginning of October with 65,194 pounds of food reported as of Monday. The new goal is 70,000 pounds of food.
The food and donations are collected at The Donation Station — a stand set up at the Athens Farmers Market and the Chesterhill Produce Auction where those at the market can donate either food or money — which is then spent at the market to purchase food that will then be donated. That means the money stays at the market and helps both those who receive the donation but also the farmer that the food was purchased from.
The food is then distributed to 44 area pantries regularly throughout the year.
Mary Nally, executive director of CFI, said she thinks that some of this growth is due to the harvest hotline, where area farmers and individuals can have CFI come and harvest any produce they have to donate.
There has been a substantial increase in donations throughout the past two years.
In 2013, CFI distributed 51,457.79 pounds of food to 40 local pantries and social service agencies. Of those donations 75 percent came from the Athens Farmers Market, 17 percent came from the Chesterhill Produce Auction and the other 8 percent came from other forms of harvesting and gleaning.
To establish the new goal, CFI looked at past year’s patterns.
“We looked at last year’s date for this time of year and gauged how much we were able to distribute last year,” Nally said. “It’s still a relatively moderate goal.”
With this growth, Nally said she expects they’ll be able to go into other surrounding counties and offer assistance.
“This really invorgiated my confidence that in 2015 we will be able to go into Vinton County as well,” she said.
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