Latest news with #MaryJaneCrouch
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
WSAV kicks off ‘School's Out' summer food drive to fight childhood hunger
CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) — School's out but hunger isn't taking a vacation. Thousands of children across Coastal Georgia face a summer without reliable access to meals. That's why WSAV is teaming up with Second Harvest for the third annual School's Out Summer Food Drive and the need has never been greater. The kitchen at Second Harvest prepares nearly 9,000 meals a day and the month of June is crucial to help fill the gap left when school meals go away. 'Hunger's not going to go away, and childhood hunger especially is not going to go away. A lot of the people with children that get these meals – both parents are working – and they just can't make ends meet. This is especially during the summer, they can't make meals,' said Mary Jane Crouch, the Executive Director of Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia. WSAV has teamed up with Second Harvest to fight rising food insecurity as school lets out. With 1 in 5 Georgia children facing hunger and 22 percent living below the poverty line in the Coastal Empire, this summer food drive is critical. WSAV is collecting shelf-stable, kid-friendly items like applesauce, oatmeal and soup, meals children can open, heat, and eat on their donation helps fill backpacks with nutritious food so kids can enjoy summer with sunshine, play and full stomachs. 'A lot of teachers talk about the academic loss during the summer, and a lot of that has to do with the lack of the proper nutrition. The children aren't getting those nutritious meals at school. This food drive in summer is really important to make sure when those kids go back to school, they're ready to learn,' said Crouch. WSAV's first donation event is Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Clearwave Fiber located on Canal Street in Pooler. If you can't make it today, there are other dates we have set up for drive-up, drop-off food collection. For drop-off dates and a full list of items you can donate, visit Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Schools Out Summer Food Drive with Second Harvest
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — School may be out, but hunger never takes a break. According to Feeding America, one out of five kids in Georgia are considered food insecure which means they can't always be sure where they'll get their next healthy meal. Second Harvest Food Bank of Coastal Georgia is working to step in and fill that gap for thousands of children in our area. It's a problem that can be even bigger during the summer months since they don't have access to meals at school. 'Summertime is not a vacation for every child,' Executive Director Mary Jane Crouch said. 'A lot of children and families depend on meals at school to help them get through budget wise and so when they get out of school, they don't have access to those meals.' All of us at WSAV News 3 are excited to kick off our third annual Schools Out Summer Food Drive to benefit Second Harvest. WSAV will be collecting healthy, easy-to-open and eat food items for kids such as apple sauce, fruit cups, pop top canned vegetables, soup and pastas. Our first event is coming up on Tuesday, June 3 from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at Clearwave Fiber located at 135 Canal St. in Pooler. If you'd like to get involved, you can volunteer to help prep and provide meals or donate to the cause. For every dollar donated, Second Harvest can provide five meals, Crouch said. You can find a complete list of items you can donate along with all of our summer food drive dates and locations at There are 77 locations where children can get breakfast and lunch. Some are not readily available for everyone since some have pre-registered. You can check location near you by clicking or tapping here and inputting your zip code. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Stamp Out Hunger food drive aims to stock summer shelves
CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) – Saturday your mailbox could be more than just a stop for letters – it can be a powerful way to fight hunger in the Coastal Empire. The Stamp Out Hunger food drive, now in its 33rd year, is led by the National Association of Letter Carriers. This one-day event couldn't come at a more crucial time for families in Coastal Georgia. The shelves at Second Harvest Food Bank are in urgent need of restocking as summer nears. The Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is the nation's largest single-day food drive, collecting nearly 2 billion pounds of non-perishable goods since it started. Saturday you can leave food donations like canned vegetables, peanut butter and canned meats next to your mailbox. Letter carriers will pick up the food during their regular mail delivery and deliver it directly to food banks. With schools closing soon, many children will face hunger. Second Harvest's summer feeding program serves over 7,000 meals a day across 85 sites starting in June. Mary Jane Crouch, Executive Director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Coastal Georgia told News 3 the event means everything to them '[One year in the past,] we had over 100,000 pounds donated to us. And we've had lesser years when, you know, maybe the economy wasn't doing so great. And people, as we said earlier, are struggling. So, we're really worried about this year. We're hoping people can pick up that extra couple of cans at the grocery store, pick up that extra jar of peanut butter. It will make a huge difference.' The food drive is Saturday, May 10th. Just place a bag of nonperishable items next to your mailbox in the morning. The postal service will handle the rest, delivering the food to Second Harvest. Last year, Second Harvest collected 34,00 pounds through the Stamp Out Hunger food drive and they hope to reach 50,000 pounds this year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SCAD SERVE Community Fund awards $2 million in grants
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WASV) — The Savannah College of Art and Design is making a major investment in its hometown communities. The University has awarded nearly 2 million dollars in grants to nonprofits in Savannah and Atlanta through the SCAD Serve Community Fund. This initiative is part of SCAD's ongoing 10-million-dollar commitment to strengthening local communities. Recipients include America's Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia and the City of Savannah. The funding will help expand public safety measures, upgrade technology for workforce training, create a new community space at Greenbriar and launch a mobile grocery store. Mary Jane Crouch, Executive Director of America's Second Harvest says, 'SCAD's not only going to help us fund the project, they're also going to help us design the truck inside and outside. The interior and exterior. Classes are gonna help us design it. Where should the freezers go? Where should the coolers go? And things like that. I'm sure they'll get involved in helping us find the different locations and then hopefully — their SCAD student's we'll be able to come and volunteer.' SCAD says this is just the first round of grants with more to come. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
