Thousands of pounds of frozen meats were delivered to the Anne Arundel County Food Bank (AACFB) on February 3rd at 8:30 am to help fight food insecurity throughout Anne Arundel County. This delivery marks the first of a series of monthly large-scale meat donations from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“That’s why we do this,” said Stephen Greenhalgh, Humanitarian Liaison for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Maryland, DC, West Virginia & Virginia. “We want to help those on the frontlines serving people in need.”
This is truly a transformational gift
Leah Paley, CEO Anne Arundel County Food Bank
With the end of pandemic-era Federal funding (over $1 million dollars this past year) and the continued high need for supplemental food resources in our community, this significant and regular donation could not come at a better time. The AACFB estimates that this monthly donation of 24 pallets of frozen meat will amount to $600,000+ over the course of a year. This donation will then be distributed throughout the County to the AACFB member agencies that are serving over 38,500 individual food pantry visits EACH MONTH.
“This is truly a transformational gift,” said Leah Paley, Chief Executive Officer of the AACFB. “We’ve been hit with increased need, increased costs of the goods we purchase, and substantially decreased funding coming in the door. Now with this gift of protein, we can focus more financial resources on purchasing fresh produce and other needed items to ensure our neighbors have access to a broad range of nutritious foods.”
What makes this donation even more special is that this delivery was the very first truckload of frozen meat coming into the Northeast area. The AACFB received 648 boxes of ground beef, 540 boxes of pork roast, and 54 whole turkeys in this first delivery and looks forward to deliveries continuing on the first Thursday of each month.
