Joint Base Charleston personnel honored as 'Volunteer of the Year' by local food bank

Published April 13, 2011
By Master Sgt. Troy Firzlaff
437th Operations Support Squadron

JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Joint Base Charleston as a whole was selected as the Volunteer of the Year by the Lowcountry Foodbank, or LCFB.

In 2010, 221 Joint Base Charleston volunteers assisted the LCFB by working 1,076 man-hours, supporting more than 16 food bank events and preparing more than 510,000 pounds of food for the Lowcountry community.

Some of the programs base volunteers supported were the Commodities Supplemental Food Program, which in partnership with the S.C. Department of Social Services, distributes USDA food commodities to Women, Infant and Children participants and the elderly living on food stamps.

Volunteers also donated their time to BackPack Buddies, a program that donates backpacks filled with food to under-privileged children, providing them not only with hot, healthy meals, but academic assistance as well.

Joint Base Charleston also supported many food collection points including the annual Post Office food drive as well as traveling to a food collection event in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The LCFB serves the 10 coastal counties of South Carolina and distributes more than 17 million pounds of food each year to 200,000 families, children and elderly. They are a clearinghouse for donated food products that are distributed to a network of more than 350 member agencies including soup kitchens, homeless shelters and emergency food pantries. The LCFB is a member of Feeding America and is committed to educating the public about the problems of and solutions to domestic hunger as well as advocating on the behalf of the hungry in our community.