At Lincoln South Rotary Club on December 16, we held our annual Holiday Lunch with a special meal, cookies, music and our annual food drive.
Pictured - Amanda Fahrer, the Executive Assistant at the Food Bank of Lincoln and Michael Tully, Director of Music Ministries at Trinity Lutheran Church.
We heard about how our Food Bank donations are helping meet the needs in Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska. Then Michael led the group as we sang holiday favorites including White Christmas, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Jingle Bells, Jingle bell Rock, Let it Snow and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.
Amanda Fahrer, the Executive Assistant at the Food Bank of Lincoln thanked Lincoln South Rotary Club members for our ongoing support of the Food Bank.
She started by sharing a story about a recent visit to the doctor's office. It reminded her of a visit a year ago and a conversation that she had with the receptionist. He noticed from her insurance information that she worked with the Food Bank, He shared that he had fallen on hard times - not where he expected to be - and he found that he needed the services of the Food Bank for him and his family. With their help they were able to survive and work to get back on their feet. He thanked her for the support that his family needed and their service to others.
Amanda shared some data:
1 in 10 people do not know where their next meal will come from.
1 in 7 children are in that position - food insecure.
With the new Food Bank facility, they opened an expanded drive-thru service that is open for 90 minutes.
694 households were service through the drive-thru service during the very first week.
972 households used the service in 90 minutes the week of Thanksgiving this year.
The Lincoln Fresh truck distributes food in a few locations throughout town. This year the truck has been visited by 26,000 people - twice the number from last year.
Unfortunately the numbers continue to increase - with the increased need support of organizations like Lincoln South Rotary Club are very important to keep the services available.