FORK is an informal collaboration between local groups that are committed to providing food assistance for children experiencing food insecurity. The target audience are children who do not have an adult in the household who can provide meals. The groups involved are the 4 Rotary Clubs of Josephine County, Grants Pass School District 7, Three Rivers School District, Josephine County Food Bank and the Redwood Foundation for Education.
Since its inception in 2022, the project has provided 24,647 individual food items in both school districts for weekend support, 896 brown grocery bags going home with students during school breaks put together by Rotarians.
Good News to report! Today (Monday, Dec. 9) 18 Rotarians gathered at the Josephine County Food Bank and put together 319 brown grocery bags of food. The school districts will distribute these bags to elementary school children at risk of going hungry over the Christmas/Holiday break. Items (but included, not limited to) in the bags were a full-size box of cereal, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti sauce, beef sticks, tuna, milk, and granola bars.
This effort was made possible due to the efforts of seven key community partners:
1. Pacific Power and Josephine County Rotarians provided the money to purchase the food. 100% of the funds went to food for kids.
2. The Redwood Education Foundation consolidated the funding and provided administrative support at no cost. It also secured the Pacific Power grant.
3.The Josephine County Food Bank maximized the purchasing power of its network to get the biggest bang for the donated buck.
4. Grocery Outlet donated the brown bags used in the project.
5. Rotarians provided the labor to put the bags together as part of a community service project. Smiles and sweat were in generous supply!
6.Diamond Home Improvement donated the manpower and vehicles to move the pallets of food bags to the school districts.
7. The 2 county school districts provided the labor to identify elementary school children most at risk of experiencing hunger during the December holiday break and get the food into their hands.
A job well done for the generous spirit committed to making our community a better place to live for children in need.
Diane
F.O.R.K. Project volunteer