Month-long food drive gets underway

DeKalb County Commissioner Kathie Gannon kicked off a month-long food drive to help DeKalb residents who are in need.

Gannon is partnering with District Attorney Sherry Boston, Solicitor General Donna Coleman-Stribling, Superior Court Clerk Debra DeBerry and Tax Commissioner Irvin Johnson to promote donations.

The food will be distributed by the Atlanta Community Food Bank to help restock their pantry, which serves citizens in DeKalb and surrounding metro areas. This year’s event began on Feb. 13 and will run through March 5.

Last year, DeKalb donated nearly 3.5 tons of food, which converts to 5,855 meals. Gannon has been sponsoring the food drive for more than 10 years.

“Many people give during the holidays, however the need for food lasts far longer than the holiday season,” said Gannon. “There are people every day that must make hard choices: pay their utilities or buy food; buy their prescriptions or buy food; fix their car or pay for food. Those are difficult choices for our neighbors in DeKalb.”

This year, it is even easier to participate through online contributions to the Atlanta Community Food Bank.  If you don’t have time to purchase food, you can help by visiting Kathiegannon.com for the link to the team page at the Atlanta Community Food Bank.  Contributions go directly to the Atlanta Community Food Bank allowing them to purchase items that are most needed and in demand.

The public can make donations of non-perishable food (no glass containers please) at all:

• DeKalb County libraries
• Senior Centers
• Offices of the Tax Commissioner
• The Maloof Center in downtown Decatur