NDO food distribution benefits 240 county residents
By JARED PUTNAM Union Sentinel Editor

Sentinel photo/Jared Putnam Charles Jenkins poses with NDO Coordinator Shawn Howell amidst hundreds of bags of groceries.

Ninth District Opportunity, Inc, (NDO) the Community Action Agency serving the Union County area, held their final USDA Commodity Foods Distribution of the year this month.

The Commodity Foods Distribution provided 240 Union County Residents with two bags of food, including items such as green beans, beef stew, milk, mixed fruit, and various juices.

NDO Coordinator Shawn Howell has been part of the program for seven years, including five in Georgia. As the only paid staff member, Howell emphasized the importance of the community's role in the process. "The program is a community effort," Howell said. "It wouldn't be possible without the community partners."

In addition to the Commodity Foods Distribution, NDO offers a broad range of services including emergency rent and utility assitance for households in crisis and employment counseling. Households coming to the distribution were also offered services by representatives of other organizations such as Union County Mental Health, the Union County Health Department and TULIP.

Sentinel photo/Jared Putnam Members of the Knights of Columbus carried out bags of groceries for needy families.

"[The Food] is a means of bringing people in, so it is a good opportunity to try to pull in some other resources that will help get people on their feet," Howell said. "Our main objective as an agency is to get people off of Welfare, so that helps us to do that."

Eligibility for the food assistance is self-declared based on income. No documentation is required to prove income. Howell said that the program is particularly helpful to elderly and disabled citizens.

One supply of goods is given per household. "It isn't a tremendous amount of food but it helps supplement what they have," Howell said.

The food is distributed from the Union County Civic Center. Bill Frala, Chris McCloskey and Bertha Crisp assisted clients with the completion of their applications. The cases of food were bagged into household allotments and carried out by the Knights of Columbus, a local Civic Organization based out of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

A special visit was made by Representative Charles Jenkins during this month's process. Representative Jenkins was given a tour of the NDO facilities and took great interest in the workings of the Commodity Foods Program and other services provided by Community Action in Georgia.

Complementary space was provided for the distribution as a service to Union County Residents by Union County at a value of nearly $500. Grocery bags, used to hold the allotments of food, were donated by Bi-Lo. Grocery Carts, used to unload the trucks and carry food out for clients, were provided byIngles.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), better known as "Commodities", is a Federal program that was created to help reduce Federal food inventories and storage costs while assisting the needy.

Under TEFAP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture makes commodity foods available to State Distributing Agencies. The amount of food that each State receives out of the total amount of food that is provided is based on the number of unemployed persons and the number of people with incomes below the poverty level in the State. States provide the food to local agencies that they have selected, such as community action agencies, which distribute the foods directly to needy households.