Feds Feed Families: Donations top 1.5M pounds

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Military commissary patrons and employees donated over 1.5 million pounds of much-needed food and personal hygiene items for local food banks and pantries during the recent 2017 Feds Feed Families campaign.

“Our employees and patrons have provided a tremendous amount of support to food banks around the country,” said Randy Eller, the Defense Commissary Agency’s deputy director of logistics.

During the campaign, which ran from June 1 to Aug. 31, commissary customers were able to either purchase items while shopping at the commissary or bring items from home and drop them off at the store. Another option for customers were prepackaged donation bags. Store workers assembled donation bags of various sizes; these packages were then placed around the stores where patrons could easily pick them up as they shopped and then donate them at the checkout.

The overall Department of Defense Feds Feed Families campaign collected over 2.6 million pounds of items. For their part, commissary employees and patrons collected 60 percent of DOD’s total donation. DeCA’s 2017 total increased by 480,000 pounds from 2016.

“We continue to be the leader for the Feds Feed Families program for the entire DOD due to the dedication of our customers and commissaries throughout the U.S.,” Eller said.

This year, with the string of hurricanes that have pounded the U.S. thus far in September, the donations may be sorely needed. With the destruction in multiple states from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, more residents of those areas may be looking for help putting food on their table.

Feds Feed Families was created as a part of former President Obama’s “United We Serve” campaign in 2009. The program’s goal is to help food banks stay stocked throughout the summer, when they typically see fewer donations and increased demand. As of last year the program had donated almost 57.2 million pounds of food and other items from across the federal government.