A Southern Indiana program is bringing farmers, community organizations and food pantries together to help put more locally produced meat on the tables of families in need.
Partners in Food provides approximately 12-thousand pounds of ground pork and 8-thousand pounds of ground beef each year to local food pantries.
“In order to have the funds to acquire the meat and distribute that. We ask farms to donate the equivalent of one acre of production, and then ask community organizations at $250 increments to offset part of the farmer donation for that one acre.” Says Hans Schmitz, one of the coordinators for Partners in Food.
He says the effort creates a direct connection between Southern Indiana agriculture and families facing food insecurity. And he says that all monies donated goes to meat.
Schmitz adds, “Every cent that is donated from local farmers or local community organizations goes directly to meat. So the gas that it takes to go get the meat is handled by the individuals themselves. The cost for mailings is handled by the administrators themselves. We pride ourselves on the fact that if a farmer or organization donates or an individual donates to partners in food, every cent of that is going to go towards supplying local food pantries with ground beef or ground pork.”
The issue of food insecurity will be front and center as agriculture, business, healthcare, nonprofits and community leaders come together for the Indiana Hunger Summit.
The summit is designed to build partnerships and develop solutions to food insecurity and programs like Partners in Food show what can happen when those partnerships start right here at home.
For more information on the Indiana Hunger Summit CLICK HERE.
