The Chattanooga Area Food Bank received a $22,000 grant from the Lillian L. Colby Foundation to fight childhood hunger at Clifton Hills Elementary School, in Chattanooga, during the 2018-2019 school year.
Through its School Mobile Pantry program, the Food Bank was able to provide 52,393 nutritious meals, which included fresh fruits and vegetables, protein, grains and Grade “A” milk, to 121 families with children. Nine monthly distributions, totaling 62,872 pounds of food, occurred during the school year at Clifton Hills Elementary School, alone.
"Established in 2014, the School Mobile Pantry Program serves as a critical component of the Food Bank’s efforts to alleviate childhood hunger and helps increase a family with children’s access to healthy and nutritious food," officials said. "Unreliable or limited access to transportation, public or otherwise, prevents many of the one in five children and one in eight individuals struggling with hunger in the Food Bank’s 20-county service region, in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia, from obtaining the healthy food required to live a productive lifestyle. Its School Mobile Pantry Program breaks down these barriers by distributing food to those who need it most directly in the communities where they live."
“We are extremely grateful to the Lillian L. Colby Foundation for their generous support of our School Mobile Pantry program at Clifton Hills Elementary School,” said Gina Crumbliss, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. “Their generosity made a measurable, positive impact on many levels in the lives of families with young children that we serve.”