Three service Fulton organizations worked together to raise tons of food to help SERVE.

Fulton Rotary, Breakfast Optimist Club and Kiwanis raised 4,349.24 pounds of food to help SERVE.

“When we learned the shelves of SERVE’s food pantry were practically empty, the Rotary Club of Fulton challenged the Kiwanis Club of Fulton and Fulton Breakfast Optimists to collect food the entire month of August,” said Mary Ann Beahon, Rotary’s community service chair.

Courtney Harrison, executive director of SERVE, said SERVE had been experiencing an unprecedented food shortage in the pantry.

“With food insecurity at an all-time high, the number of families who need our help is increasing every day,” Harrison said. “Between the decrease in food and the increase in need, it’s been a challenge to keep the grocery carts full.”

Harrison said there was a drastic decline in the amount of food they received from their primary food supplier, which is from a food bank that serves Central and Northeast Missouri.

Although she said the food bank is doing its best to get SERVE (and the other Missouri pantries) what they can, their traditional supply chains have been disrupted. That loss can be felt and trickles down to local pantries like SERVE, who then have less food to give local families who need it the most.

Source: Fulton organizations raise tons of food to help SERVE