News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
An Overton County non-profit is spreading the love this month by collecting and donating peanut butter to hungry kids.
Food To The Rescue, based out of Cookeville, expanded its efforts to Overton County last year. Coordinator Megan Burr said the organization delivers boxes of food to kids in homes that are considered food insecure. Burr said food-insecure homes primarily rely on the school system to provide meals.
“I think it’s helpful to these families and that’s all we are trying to do,” Burr said. “We are just trying to get these people the help that they need. The fact that we can bring it to their homes is helpful. They don’t have to come get it or worry about a date or a time, and also I think protects people’s dignity because we can just go and drop the food off and it doesn’t have to be a big thing.”
Burr said the organization is encouraging donations of peanut butter with this year’s theme “Spread The Love.” Burr said when schools have holiday breaks children in food insecure homes are often underfed.
“Peanut butter is a huge item for us,” Burr said. “It’s one of the things that we pack without fail in every box to every distribution and it’s an item that we always need and so it is just kind of an easy campaign for us to kind of put together for the whole month. We try to get as many jars collected as we possibly can and often times we are able to collect enough that we can have enough for the whole year.”
Burr said that the need for these food boxes has been growing in Overton County.
“I think there is a lot of need,” Burr said. “Just to kind of give you some numbers we began in the spring break of 2023 and we fed about 120 kids we delivered to. We are up to almost 400 kids now, so we are always growing and it is a need. There are a lot of kids here who maybe don’t have quite enough food at home or to get by and we are happy to help and fill in that gap.”
Burr said she believes not many people in Overton County are even aware that the organization exist. Burr said despite many people not being aware the organization has been very successful.
Drop-off locations for the entire month of September are Life Church-Livingston, First Christian Church, Allons Baptist, First National Bank (East and West Locations), One Bank, Hilham Elementary, Rickman Elementary, Allons Elementary, AH Roberts Elementary, Livingston Middle School, Livingston Academy, Food Lion, and Jerry’s IGA.
