The Chattanooga Area Food Bank announced Friday a strategic partnership with TVA in support of rural Tennessee hunger relief efforts. The partnership with the Food Bank is part of TVA’s valley-wide efforts with regional Feeding America food banks who serve the Tennessee valley’s most vulnerable rural counties. TVA volunteers and donated funds will be used to underwrite Food Bank mobile pantry distributions throughout the summer and fall.
“Year after year, TVA generously supports the Chattanooga Area Food Bank," said Chattanooga Area Food Bank President and CEO Gina Crumbliss. "We’re incredibly grateful for their partnership and their support of hunger relief efforts throughout the Southeast Tennessee region. Through this year’s commitments, the Food Bank will reach hundreds of food insecure families throughout Tennessee’s rural communities.”
“TVA was founded on a mission of service,” said Gail Rymer, TVA director of Public Relations and Public Information. “Our partnership with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank continues that mission by allowing our employees to directly help the people in the communities where they live and work.”
TVA staff will volunteer to distribute food during a Food Bank mobile pantry distribution on Tuesday, June 14, and Tuesday, July 12, at Meigs Middle School from 8:30-11 a.m.
Many people in the Food Bank’s rural service area lack reliable access to transportation as well as healthy food—which means they don’t have a way to reach a food pantry, feeding programs or the Food Bank itself. Mobile Pantries are an easy way to take food to thousands of people in the Food Bank’s 20-county service area, said officials.
Mobile pantries are packed full of fresh produce, meat and bread to ensure the Food Bank is not only feeding, but nourishing, those who need it, said officials. Each delivery is tailored to the group being served: students, families or seniors. Approximately 250 families are reached at each mobile pantry distribution.
Collectively, the regional Feeding America food banks estimate more than 10,000 children—and their families—will ultimately benefit through this year’s partnership with TVA. Each food bank identified the most vulnerable counties in their service area (as defined by Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap) and will implement half-day mobile pantries distributing food directly to community members.
Currently, 17.1 percent of the Tennessee population is considered food insecure. The food insecurity rates in the Food Bank’s service area range from 15-18 percent, with some of the greatest needs in the most isolated rural Tennessee counties including: Bledsoe, Grundy, Marion, Meigs, Rhea, and Van Buren. Child poverty rates in all of the Tennessee counties served by the Food Bank far exceed the national average of 22 percent, with Grundy County topping the list at a 40 percent child poverty rate.