ATLANTA — What started out as a United States effort to feed millions of starving families throughout Western Europe following World War II, has now turned into a huge undertaking to feed local families struggling during the pandemic.
“The food that they gave me actually came when I needed it,” said Monnica Taylor, who regularly gets the food packages from CARE USA.
Taylor said the pandemic forced her to shut down her cleaning business on Atlanta’s west side and she is now using the arriving CARE USA food packages to not only feed her own family, but to cook for other neighborhood families in need.
“I love helping the community and I love cooking and I love feeding people,” she added.
And with that same motivation, CARE USA, with its world headquarters in Atlanta, is now aggressively bringing food to millions of families in the United States.
For the first time in 75 years, CARE has taken the enormously successful program instituted after the war into metro Atlanta and other cities to fight the pandemic. So far and since April of last year, more than 2.4 million meals have been distributed in metro Atlanta alone.
Ryan Shephard heads this first-ever CARE food package domestic effort. In Atlanta, CARE USA is teaming up with seven metro non-profits.
“We saw so many of the issues we are combating around the world here in the United States that it was important to show up and be good neighbors,” Shepard said.
Local volunteers help assemble and deliver all of the CARE packages which include poultry and meat, produce, dairy products, shelf-stable canned goods, and other essential items that allow families to prepare healthy meals.