Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Mary Junell | A small acrylic plaque lays on a table during a ceremony at the Second Harvest Food...... read more read more
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North Carolina Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 449th Theater Aviation Brigade were recognized for their work with Action Pathways’ Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina during a small ceremony in Fayetteville, North Carolina, July 23, 2020.
The Soldiers were part of the more than 940 Soldiers and Airmen activated during North Carolina’s response to COVID-19.
Each Soldier was presented with a small plaque featuring pictures of them distributing food and a certificate of appreciation for supporting the food bank.
For about 90 days, the Soldiers supported the food bank in their Fayetteville warehouse, made deliveries of food across the state, and helped distribute boxes of food at drive-thru food distribution sites.
Lonnie Ballard, the CEO of Action Pathways, said the NC National Guard was integral to being able to serve the community.
“The food bank is a network of nonprofits and interfaith based organizations,” Ballard said. “A lot of them closed because of COVID. We were faced with, how do you get food out when you don’t have the same capacity. The National Guard and Team Rubicon helped us do mass distributions directly.”
As people were encouraged to stay home, the food bank’s volunteers stopped showing up, while the need increased as more people were experiencing food insecurity for the first time. The food bank had to rethink the way they distributed food and the NC Guardsmen were a big part of that.
“Coming in with a group that is trained in working in crisis really helped us,” Ballard said. “They helped us with sorting food and donations. They helped us to organize. They helped us any time we were out in the field doing mass distributions with logistics. We weren’t used to that volume.”
During their time working with Second Harvest Food Bank, the Soldiers helped distribute more than 160,000 pounds of food and supported 19 separate mass distributions and delivery sites, impacting an estimated 28,662 households.
Sgt. Joe Guyer, an Apache crew chief with the 1-130th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion and part of the team working with the food bank, said he and his fellow Soldiers welcomed the opportunity to be out in the community where they know they were making a difference.
“I’m not the kind of person who looks for appreciation, but when you see people out in the community you can see the appreciation in their face,” Guyer said. “It’s been hard work, you always go home sweaty, but still, it just makes you feel good to know that you're doing something productive with the community.”
COVID-19 is the first time the North Carolina National Guard worked with the Second Harvest Food Bank, but it’s a partnership that made sense and many hope can be used in the future.
“Think about it, what is the Guard good at, manpower and logistics. That’s what these guys needed,” Guyer said. “Hurricane relief may be right around the corner. You’re going to have the same thing, you're going to have people who can’t go to work, who are going to need groceries and this partnership is a perfect example of what we can do directly to help people.”
July 24, 2020, marks the last day of activation for North Carolina National Guard Soldiers and Airmen, with approximately 250 on standby should they be needed. The NC National Guard will now shift its efforts to preparing for the height of hurricane season.
| Date Taken: | 07.24.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.24.2020 14:28 |
| Story ID: | 374554 |
| Location: | FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 51 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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