Event cancelations due to COVID-19 have caused Snack in a Backpack to receive less financial donations to help fund their effort to provide food assistance for children in the community.
“Now we are faced with a new challenge as we prepare or the 2020-2021 school year,” Board Chairman Mike Nunnally said in a letter to the editor of The News Observer. “Snack in a Backpack anticipates the continued high demand for food assistance for children in our community during weekends and school breaks. Snack in a Backpack is prepared to mobilize to meet childhood hunger in Fannin, but needs your contribution to assist us in purchasing food.
“In the past, Snack in a Backpack has received financial donations from several of the community fundraising events that occur yearly in Blue Ridge. Due to the pandemic, all community fundraising events have been canceled or postponed for the upcoming season.”
Nunnally’s full letter can be found on page A5 of this week’s edition.
Donations can be made online at https://snackinabackpack.org/donate or by mail, sent to Snack in a Backpack, Post Office Box 2123, Blue Ridge, GA 30513.
Snack in a Backpack has also joined with Faith Presbyterian Church, Fannin County Family Connection, Temple Baptist Church and St. Luke’s Anglican Church to provide a Summer Meal Program for Fannin County Children under the age of 18, which will run through July 30.
The program will deliver meal from June 1 to July 30, Mondays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to noon, rain or shine at the following locations: Brooks Summit Apartments, Blue Ridge Housing Authority, Highway 5 Trailer Parks, North Court Apartments, Jones Street Apartments & Park, Brookstone Apartments and Mineral Springs Apartments.
Pick-up will also be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. rain or shine at East Fannin Elementary School.
The organizations need volunteers in order to provide 800 deliveries a week during the 9-week summer break program.
Those who wish to volunteer for delivery can email office@faithpresbyterianusa.org, and those who would like to pack can email backpackfannin@gmail.com.
More information can be found by phone at 706-374-5912.
Fannin County Family Connection will continue to serve families in need with their food pantry, which is located at 501 Industrial Park in Blue Ridge.
The pantry is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
A cart full of food will be provided for families meeting their income requirement and who are residents of Fannin or Polk counties.
During the summer months, families will be allowed to visit two times per month in order for children to have access to adequate food.
More information can be found by phone at 706-632-6063.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will offer free meals at the Fannin County Recreation Department, which is located at 370 Tom Boyd Road in Blue Ridge. They will have breakfast Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m, and lunch from noon to 1 p.m.
More information can be found by phone at 706-946-1130.
The Ridge Community Church will host food pick-ups for families and children as well.
Pickups will be every second Tuesday at Branch Baptist Church, which is hosted by McCaysville Baptist Church, located at 104 Toccoa Ave. in McCaysville, every fourth Monday at the Copper Basin Crisis Network, which is located at 5260 Highway 64 in Copperhill, and every fourth Sunday at The Ridge Community Church, which is located at 960 Millholland Road in Mineral Bluff.
More information can be found by phone at 706-258-2330.
Morganton Baptist Church, which is located at 9511 Old Highway 76 in Morganton, will also host a food and clothing pick-up for families and children on the first, second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
More information can be found by phone at 706-374-5100.