Golden Harvest Food Bank has reached a historic milestone of serving 300 million meals since the organization’s inception over 40 years ago. 

In 1982, local church organizations saw a growing need to feed the hungry in the downtown Augusta area due to a lack of food resources caused by a recession and a once thriving area being vacated. Founder and first Golden Harvest executive director Mike Firmin answered the call to serve and led the collective charge to gather support from the community to provide food for those in need of assistance.

In its first year, the Food Bank gathered over 200,000 pounds of food which equates to over 167,000 meals served. 25 years after its founding, Golden Harvest Food Bank reached the humbling milestone of having served 100 million meals to those facing food insecurity. 15 years later the Food Bank has officially served over 300 million meals.

“If it wasn’t for the community that has continued to stand alongside us since our founding, we would never have been able to reach such a remarkable milestone,” said Amy Breitmann, President & CEO, Golden Harvest Food Bank. “We are truly blessed to be able to provide the resources our partner agencies and programs need to put food on the table for our neighbors experiencing food insecurity.”

The once small operation serving the downtown Augusta area has since grown to serve 25 counties in Georgia and South Carolina, covering an 11,000 square mile area with warehouse distribution sites in Augusta, GA and Aiken, SC. Golden Harvest Food Bank also works with over 350 partner agencies and programs, and owns and operates The Master’s Table in downtown Augusta which provides a hot meal to 200 people each day from 11am to noon. 

According to data from Feeding America, 1 in 8 in Golden Harvest’s 25-county service area struggle with hunger.