JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – In 2017, the Daily Bread – Jamestown Program rescued 21,000 pounds, or 10.5 tons, of food for hungry individuals and families in the Jamestown area. Almost 20,000 pounds of this was excess food prepared by certified kitchens in the area and frozen for distribution. A new Daily Bread – Jamestown program that distributes fresh fruit and vegetables contributed the balance.

“In 2015, we were very proud of distributing 8,000 tons of food,” said Tom Geffre, Daily Bread- Jamestown Steering Committee Chairman. “In three short years, we have more than doubled the volume of food that has been rescued and distributed. From the very young children to our senior citizens, hungry community members are receiving much needed food.

The key to our success are the tireless volunteers who work to provide and distribute the food. Daily Bread – Jamestown freezers are located at: St. John’s Lutheran, Ave Maria Nursing Home, the James Senior Citizen Center, the Gardenette, the James House and Community Options. We also have Daily-Bread – Jamestown freezers located in every Jamestown public school. Food personnel at these schools place any excess food in their respective freezers. We supplement this with excess frozen food from over ten commercial kitchens in the area. The volunteers have done a phenomenal job of organizing the food pick up at the commercial kitchens and delivering to the freezer sites.”

“We have one volunteer that picks up over 200 pounds of food each week,” said Deb Lee, Manager of the Jamestown Volunteer Center. “We currently have four regular and two substitute volunteers that pick up the food”

“This past summer, we started to distribute fresh fruit and vegetables that are provided by a local warehouse,” said Geffre. “We have refrigerators at the James River Senior Citizens Center, St. John’s Lutheran and the Gardenette. Triumph clients help to distribute this food, which has been well received.

We see a much greater need in the Jamestown area, but our expansion plans have been hampered by a shortage of food donors. We continue to seek out food donations from approved kitchens at convenience stores, hotels, food businesses and caterers. Donors of the food are protected by the national Good Samaritan Law. Daily Bread – Jamestown provides the freezer bags. We will even provide freezers for kitchens if they do not have enough space to store the food until the food is picked up.

The Daily Bread- Jamestown food is free, and there are no registration requirements.

Daily Bread – Jamestown also coordinates the every other month distribution of senior/low income government food commodities in our area. That food is delivered to us from the Great Plains Food Bank. This is another way we are trying to combat the hunger issue in our community.”