Volunteers brave the cold to distribute food from Feeding America
Dionne Cannon Merritt & her Valuable Volunteers
Story and Pictures by Beverly Bonilla
It was a cold 13 degrees outside on Wednesday, January 15 during the Feeding America’s monthly USDA Commodity Food Program. That did not stop Dionne Cannon Merritt and her valuable volunteers. As soon as they got the truck unloaded and away, they went getting everything together and organized for when the huge line of people would be driving through to get their commodities. Dionne stated that in her 2024 report, the average amount of people that were fed through Community Action and Feeding America in Butler Co., was 220 people a month.
Community Action has been running the Commodities for over 20 years. They have been distributing food in several places in those 20 years. A couple of places that were used in the past to pick up commodities were the Gasper River Association building and Morgantown Community Church. For a couple of years now, Community Action have been working out of the Butler Co. Barn located at 462 Boat Factory Road. I was told several times how blessed they were to have a building such as the one they have now and wanted to thank all those who made that possible.
After the truck delivers the food then the volunteers work as fast as they can to get everything organized and sorted. While they are getting that ready inside, Janeen Taylor walks around outside to each car to get the information needed and chats a bit with each person. On average there are usually 8-12 volunteers to help organize things. People start lining up around 7:00 am and by the time that things get started around 9:00am, cars are wrapped around the barn and as far as you can see up Boat Factory Road. Anybody who would like to come out and volunteer their time is welcome to come.
Janeen Taylor, volunteer.
Feeding America distributes food throughout 42 counties in Kentucky. Dionne Cannon Merritt oversees ordering the food that comes every month and orders as much as she can with what is offered to her. Commodities are income based and first come first serve. There are months that have run out of food. Dione tries to get as much food as allowed, but you just never know if it is going to be enough.
If you have any questions on income qualifications for commodities, volunteering or any other questions you can contact Community Action at 270-526-3735 between 8:00am-4:00pm. Becky Cannon was also there with Kynect to help anybody that may need it. If you need to get in touch with Becky, you can also call Community Action, and they will give you the information needed to contact her.
