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Community Corner

Helping Those Who Help Others

Several Smyrna churches including St. Benedict's Episcopal Church, which is holding a July 12 food drive, are helping MUST Ministries restock its food pantry in light of its recent shortage.

About two weeks ago, MUST Ministries that its food pantry was running low on supplies. Now some Smyrna churches are answering the call to help. 

, which serves residents in Cobb and Cherokee counties, has seen a significant increase in the number of people asking for assistance. The nonprofit organization that operates a food and clothing pantry in Smyrna has witnessed a 35-percent increase over this same time in 2010. On a typical day the MUST food pantry gives out about 2,000 pounds of food.

Kaye Cagle, MUST’s director of marketing, explained that donations to the food pantry usually decrease in the summer. This coupled with the increased demand has caused the food shortage.

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will hold its July 12 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The first 20 people to bring in 10 pounds of food, approximately 10 or 15 regular-sized cans, will receive a $5 FARM bucks voucher good for $5 off at any of the vendors at .

Carol Kirshner is St. Benedict’s mission and outreach coordinator. She and other volunteers from St. Benedict’s staff MUST’s Smyrna food pantry once a month.

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“From that experience I know there’s always an increase of moms and dads coming in to get food for their kids while they’re at home in the summer, she said. “Adolescents are especially hungry and there’s just an increase in demand because they’re at home.”

Kirshner explained that MUST asked St. Benedict’s to organize a food drive and she took the call to heart.

“Personally I hate the fact that I have neighbors that go hungry, especially neighbor children,” she said. “I’ve always been involved with MUST because they do meet those needs in a limited way, but at least people have access to food when the cupboard is bare.”

Kirshner hopes the St. Benedict’s food drive will collect 200 pounds of food. Other churches in Smyrna are also collecting donations. , and are also accepting donations. While all non-perishable food items are accepted, there is always a need for canned meat like tuna, salmon and chicken, Kirshner said.

For more information on MUST Ministries click here

Another Marietta-based non-profit needs help restocking its food pantry. Center for Family Resources serves low-income and homeless populations in Cobb County. The organization only has about two weeks' worth of supplies left in its pantry.

Susie Ivy, communications manager at Center for Family Resources, has placed a call for non-perishable food and hygiene products like tampons, deodorant, shampoo and soap. Ivy explained that personal hygiene products are expensive and cannot be purchased with food stamps. For more information on how to donate call 770-428-2601.

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