St. Mary’s Employees Donate Turkeys to Food Bank

St. Mary’s Health Care System and its colleagues and volunteers have once again helped those who cannot always help themselves.

Spokesman Mark Ralston said this year, the employees and volunteers of of St. Mary’s broke the record for the amount of turkeys they donated to local food banks.

Just before Thanksgiving, St. Mary’s Health Care System and its colleagues and volunteers donated 206 frozen turkeys – weighing more than a ton – to the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia and the Greene County Food Pantry to help families in need this holiday season.

Of the 206 turkeys donated, 171 went to the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia from St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens and St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia.

Each turkey comes with safe cooking information and preparation tips provided by St. Mary’s food service partner, Metz Culinary.

Erin Barger, Food Bank of Northeast Georgia executive director said St. Mary’s has gone above and beyond guiding and serving our region through unprecedented challenges to our public health, which, she said, is an incredible feat alone.

Each year, the food bank provides more than 13 million pounds of food to families through around 200 partner organizations – including soup kitchens, food pantries, senior centers, churches and other non-profit hunger relief organizations – in 14 counties: Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Franklin, Habersham, Hart, Jackson, Madison, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Rabun, Stephens, Towns and White.

For more information about the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia and the agencies with which it partners, visit www.foodbanknega.org.