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Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort is closing in on the end of its 7th Annual Feds Feed Families Campaign to support households in the surrounding communities, Aug. 28. The event comes at a time of year when donations traditionally decline and school aged children do not have access to school food programs, making donations especially important, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Photo by Cpl. Brendan Roethel

Fightertown continues fight against hunger

20 Aug 2015 | Cpl. Brendan Roethel Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort

Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort is closing in on the end of its 7th Annual Feds Feed Families Campaign to support households in the surrounding communities, Aug. 28.
The event comes at a time of year when donations traditionally decline and school aged children do not have access to school food programs, making donations especially important, according to the Department of Agriculture.
The 7th annual Feds Feed Families campaign has collected approximately 900 pounds of non-perishable foods aboard the air station and Laurel Bay. Last year the installation donated approximately 4,000 pounds of food. 
“As we enter into the home stretch of this year's drive please don't quit,” said Cmdr. William Holiman, the command chaplain for MCAS Beaufort. “We need to keep dropping off cans and boxes of food at the mess hall or the Marine Corps exchanges on the air station and Laurel Bay.” 
The donations are sent to the Lowcountry Food Bank in Yemassee, S.C. From there the food is distributed to 52 local agencies in Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper, and Colleton counties, finding its way onto the tables of Americans in need.
“When I go to the food bank to drop off the food you give, I never see anything left from the week before,” said Holiman. “Everything comes in and is gone by the next week. There are a lot of people, some from our own base, who depend on our donations to make ends meet.
According to the USDA, an estimated 50 million people, or one in six Americans, struggle and face the realities of hunger. Since the campaign began seven years ago, federal workers have donated and collected approximately 39 million pounds of food and other non-perishable goods such as hygiene items to support families across America.
“Feds Feed Families is one of our biggest food drives of the year,” said Benton Williams, the regional food center manager for the Lowcountry Food Bank in Yemassee. “It’s a way for us to help act as a support for the times when kids aren’t being fed daily at school for lunch. When those children have that vital source of nutrition cut off during the summer months, Feds Feed Families helps bridge that gap.”
The DoD broke records last year by donating over 3.1 million pounds of food to local food banks and charities to feed individuals who are food-insecure.
“Giving is fundamental to a good life,” said Holiman. “If we only receive we become selfish and stagnant, but when we both give and receive it opens us up to all kinds of wonderful things in life. Every Marine and family member here has received much. When we pass that along to others it makes everyone better off. Please keep on giving.”