Golden Harvest Food Bank, a nonprofit organization dedicated to feeding the hungry, was awarded a $2,000 grant from the Plum Creek Foundation. Funds will support the purchase of a floor scrubber for the Aiken Distribution Center.
 
Golden Harvest Food Bank is a local nonprofit that partners with 300 food pantries and soup kitchens to feed the hungry in 30 counties in Georgia and South Carolina. Acquiring and storing enough food to serve these counties is the highest priority, and part of that job is maintaining sanitary food storage areas.
 
“The floor scrubbing machine provided by this grant will protect the food we provide to families who depend on this program to get through difficult times,” said Ann Visintainer, grant writer and editor from Golden Harvest. “Not only will this machine create a more sanitary food storage environment, it will also save hundreds of labor hours per year, giving our staff more time to devote to food sourcing and distribution. Ultimately, this machine will help us make certain that families struggling with food-insecurity have access to emergency supplies when financial hardship pushes their next meal out of reach.”
                                                                                                                                                                            
In many of the counties Golden Harvest serves together with Plum Creek, over 20 percent of the population lives in poverty. For these low-income households, hunger is a real and ever-present threat to health and wellness. The USDA estimates that over 225,000 people in the 30 counties Golden Harvest serves are “food insecure,” meaning they lack access to sufficient food because of poverty, unemployment or disability. Golden Harvest Food Bank addresses the root causes of food insecurity by collecting food and strategically distributing it where most needed through our Food Pantry Services Program.
 
“Plum Creek recognizes why this organization is important to the community,” said Jim Rundorff, senior director of land asset management south for Plum Creek. “We are proud to play an important role in ensuring South Carolinians receive safe and sanitary food to eat.”