Christ Mitchell of Second Harvest helps to load up a vehicle Thursday at the Colquitt County Food Bank.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County Food Bank gave away free food boxes Thursday as part of a joint program with the USDA and Second Harvest of South Georgia.

Free boxes of food were given away to anybody who wanted to get one, according to Colquitt County Food Bank Director Laura Keith. 

“This is just one of the ways we hope to help,” said Keith. 

The boxes contained a gallon of milk, an assortment of vegetables and fruits and some meats. All the boxes were donated by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Farmers to Families program. According to the USDAAMS website, the program takes excess food donated or sold by farmers at a discounted rate to distribute through food banks, community and faith-based organizations, and other non-profits.

Second Harvest member Christ Mitchell delivered the pallets of food in a refrigerated truck before the event began. The group is a member of Feeding America and the Tifton branch stored the donated items before bringing it to Moultrie, Mitchell said. 

The event was planned to begin at 10:30 a.m. but due to an equipment malfunction, the giveaway began later than anticipated.

“Our forklift broke down right when we were getting the first pallets off the truck,” said Keith. “So volunteers have been working through the heat to get the truck unloaded by hand.”

Many boxes were stored to be given away at a later date but most of the boxes were given away to individuals, churches or other charitable organizations. The bank gets daily donations from local grocery stores such as Publix and Walmart and individuals are able to sign up for the food bank’s services at any time. You can contact them at 229-985-7725 for more information.