WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Hunger has no face. In Central Georgia, more than 40,000 of the faces dealing with hunger are children who have no idea where their next meal will come from.
“It could happen to me, it could happen to you, anybody could get themselves in a situation where they were food hungry,” said Brev Hunt.
Hunt is the coordinator for the Warner Robins Methodist Food Pantry at First United Methodist Church. He says he saw a need for children who are hungry in the community back when he started working in education over 50 years ago.
“I worked at the Lindsey Elementary school. For seven years I taught 6th grade,” Hunt said. “And then after that I became principal of the same school and I worked there for 30 years as an administrator and then I retired in 1994.”
Now, his church works with the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank to help provide food for those in Warner Robins who may be hungry.
“I always knew when I worked for the school system the needs of my school community,” Hunt said. “But I’ve found there are needs in any area of this town.”
The pantry gets food from federal and state programs. Some food is donated from local people and organizations, and the pantry buys its own food too.
Food from the state is from the Georgia Nutritional Assistance Program, or GNAP. It is only used for food for kids.
If any adult or family that comes in to the church food pantry has children, the church packs up extra food from GNAP for them to take home.
“When I look across – and we have 24 counties that we cover – and I see that in those 24 counties child hunger is through the roof because of jobs and different things of that nature,” said president and CEO of Middle Georgia Community Food Bank David Griffin. “Warner Robins is no different than the other 24 and we see a high rate of child poverty down that way.”
There is also a program the food pantry has called “Snack Sacks.” The church fills reusable bags of non-perishable crackers, beans, milk and more, then they give the packs to schools to send home with children for the weekend.
“It shouldn’t be that anybody should be hungry,” Hunt said. “Nobody in this town or this county should be deficient in having adequate food.”
Hunt says school staff give the children the Snack Sacks discreetly, so they do not feel embarrassed. He also says the volunteers try their best to make sure the food is healthy and nutritious.
“We want to bring that weeks’ worth of food to try to lift them up,” Griffin said.
The Food Pantry is open every Tuesday and Thursday from 2-4 p.m. To get assistance from the pantry, all you need to do is show up, bring a valid photo ID, social security card, and proof of residence in Houston County.
“I just am so proud of this community for what it does for people,” Hunt said. “Everybody is just most generous. That’s all I can say, and they have a heart for other human beings. And if they’re having a hard time, and I can help you, that’s what I should do.”
“Hunger doesn’t take away your hope. Hunger doesn’t take away who you are and make you think that you can’t be all that you can be in this great country that we live in and in Warner Robins it’s no different,” Griffin said.
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