News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Feed America First will host a disaster relief distribution at Tennessee Tech Saturday.
Mike Womack is the Executive Director of the Murfreesboro-based non-profit. He said the distribution includes perishable and nonperishable food along with hygiene items and cleaning supplies.
“We do these events anytime there’s a natural disaster somewhere, especially in the state of Tennessee,” Womack said. “We’ve done several in other states, as well, but this being in the back yard, we wanted to do something as quickly as possible.”
Womack said Feed America First is trying to get supplies out to many Upper Cumberland families. The event begins at 9am. Womack said that some special precautions are in place to protect volunteers and those picking up items.
“You’ll stay in your car,” Womack said. “We’ll load your car. We will ask you to pop your trunk before you get up to the front line to get loaded. We’ll load it and get your trunk closed.”
“We did one of these last week in Lebanon where we were able to do over 400 families,” Womack said. “This one will be bigger. I don’t like putting a number on it, but we’re hoping to serve 600 or 700 families.”
The distribution is open to anyone in the community, Womack said, not just those directly affected by the storms.
“The only restrictions that are there are some income restriction on the USDA items,” Womack said. “If you don’t qualify for that, the rest of it you can pick up, you can still get the box of food, and you can still get the produce.”
Volunteers are still needed for the event. Womack said anyone wanting to volunteer can go to Feed America First’s Facebook page for more information.
