News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Feed America First wants to begin distributing food to Upper Cumberland residents from a new Cookeville location.
Director of Operations Mike Womack said Freddy Duncan & Sons Moving and Storage has donated a warehouse to store food for distribution.
“We had an event at the fairgrounds where we gave away over 40,000 pounds of food. We would like to do that on a more frequent basis,” Womack said. “One of the opportunities to do that is to do it monthly, but we have to have a place to host the food and hold it a while as it comes in. Mr. Freddy Duncan has offered one of his warehouses to do that, so as soon as we can start stocking that up, we’ll start doing one monthly because of the kindness of Freddy Duncan.”
The plans were announced during the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast at Life Church in Cookeville Wednesday morning.
Cookeville Mayor Ricky Shelton said having a resource like Feed America First will greatly benefit the region.
“We don’t realize how many people actually need food and go hungry,” Shelton said. “We want to be able to provide that resource and I think partnering with Feed America First will help us do that. As we start to build this more and more, we’ll branch out from Cookeville, Putnam County, and then to our entire region.”
Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said the issue of residents going hungry is more than a local issue.
“It’s not just a single county problem, this is a problem across our country and across our world,” Porter said. “Mr. Freddy Duncan donating a warehouse is huge for the project to have a place in storing the food… It’s a great start. It’s been a great morning already.”
Womack said he anticipates Feed America First will host its first event later this summer with more planned during the holiday season.
