White Co. Resource Fair Offers Food for Those in Need

The Tennessee Department of Human Services will host a special resource fair Tuesday to provide food for those in need.

Department Press Secretary Sky Arnold said the department has partnered with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee to give food to area residents.

“Our thought on this is, there’s a couple different reasons why we’re doing this. One of the biggest is we felt like there is certainly a need in communities like White County for food of this sort,” Arnold said. “It sort of fits a need from that perspective, and the Second Harvest Food Bank was able to provide the food, they had an availability for that, and it just really worked out well.”

The White County Resource Fair will also provide the usual employment and educational opportunities for residents, similar to past events in Van Buren and Fentress Counties.

However, Arnold said the White County event will be one of only three in Middle Tennessee to offer food to residents in addition to potential career resources.

“The key thing that it means for us is that it’s just another way to help the people we serve,” Arnold said. “Not only are we helping them find educational and job opportunities in their communities that they need and maybe also helping them in life, but also we’re helping provide them with food that may come in really handy for them.”

The department hosted a similar resource fair in Marshall County Friday in which food was provided to area residents there. Arnold said event organizers noticed an impact being made on those who received the food items.

“That one had a much-higher turnout than we have traditionally seen at these resource fairs,” Arnold said. “I think at least from our perspective, we think it’s definitely a good thing to have food provided. There’s definitely a need in these communities and it attracts more people to the resource fairs.”

Arnold said food provided at the events normally varies based on what’s available in those areas. Items such as milk, chicken, and fruit have been provided in similar resource fairs across the state free of charge to all visitors.

The White County Resource Fair takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sparta Housing Authority along Crag Rock Drive.