The nonprofit agency, which serves 34 counties in eastern and central North Carolina, hopes to raise $6.5 million for such things as building additional warehouse and distribution facilities and buying more trucks to distribute the food. So far, about $6 million has been raised, Hunt said.
Hunt, who had just returned from a trip to Asia where he handed out golf balls promoting the 2005 U.S. Open in Pinehurst, is serving as chairman of the campaign. He asked the Sandhills branch of the Food Bank, which serves Moore and four surrounding counties, to raise $75,000.
“There are a lot of great things about this county,” Hunt told the small group. “We’ve got a lot of resources. We need to do something about hunger, not only here in Moore County, but in North Carolina.
“We have a lot of needs. If we really want to be a great state, we really need to face up to doing something about hunger. We’re all really proud of this state. The one thing we really ought to do is eliminate hunger. We’ve got the Food Bank. With all of us working together, we can do something about it.
The hosts of the breakfast were Peggy Kirk Bell, who owns Pine Needles and Mid Pines; Kelly Miller, CEO of Pine Needles and Mid Pines; and Stuart Strickland, market president of Wachovia Bank in Southern Pines.
Hunt asked Strickland to take a leadership role in raising the money in Moore County.
“We’ve seen an 80 percent increase in the demand for food here,” Strickland told the group. “Some don’t think there is hunger here. He have all of these pristine golf courses. Yet two of 10 kids are hungry. Some people must chose between buying medicine and food.
“These are situations that shouldn’t exist here. There is a hope — the Food Bank.”
The Sandhills Food Bank distributed more than 2.8 million pounds of food last year, Strickland said.
“That is a lot of food, but the demand is increasing,” he said.
In the five-county area served by the Sandhills Food Bank — Moore, Hoke, Lee, Richmond and Scotland counties — about 30,000 people out of a population of 200,000 population live at or below the poverty level, according to statistics Hunt cited. About one in 10 who live in poverty are over age 65.
“Many must chose between buying medicine and buying food,” Hunt said.
About 12,000 are children, he said. In Moore County, one of the wealthier counties in the state, about 3,000 children — one in five — live in poverty, he said.
“Most of them are in school,” Hunt said. “We want them to be successful. But it is hard to learn when you can’t hear the teacher because your stomach is growling so loud.”
Seven years ago, the food bank distributed six million pounds of food, Hunt said. Last year, it handled 24 million pounds, and the total is projected to top 25 million pounds this year.
“Yet we still have all these hungry people,” he said. “We have such a huge need.”
The North Carolina Food Bank provides food to 861 agencies throughout the 34 counties. The Sandhills Food Bank, which recently moved into a larger warehouse on Sandy Lane in Southern Pines, serves 105 agencies, including the Sandhills-Moore Coalition for Human Care, the Boys and Girls Club and numerous churches and food pantries.
The Food Bank and the Boys and Girls Club recently started the Kids Café at the club in Southern Pines, which provides dinner three days a week to more than 200 children in the after-school program.
Hunt said the Food Bank would like to expand the program in Moore County and to all 34 counties it serves.
“This is the county that has the resources to do even more,” Hunt said. “This is to ask you to help. There are a lot of hungry people in eastern and central North Carolina. If we don’t look a little beyond our borders, these people will stay hungry.
“This is a great community. It has some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world. Everyone in this room is blessed. God wants us to give something back, so all of the hungry will be fed.
“We have to be God’s servants to make it happen. We can do it.”
