SIKESTON, MO - The Southeast Missouri Food Bank celebrated Giving Tuesday with volunteers and a donation match to keep fighting hunger in the Bootheel.
Food Insecurity takes on a whole new meaning in the winter.
“It gets harder," SEMO Food Bank Donor Relations Manager Heather Collier said. "The holidays are always hard. If you think about Thanksgiving, about Christmas, so many of our holidays are based around food and we already have families struggling to put a meal on the table, let alone worrying about a holiday meal and the other expenses that come with the holidays.”�
Giving Tuesday, the Food Bank had a day open for volunteers. They started the morning off with about ten who came to help pack senior food boxes and bags for the food bank's backpack program for school aged children.
“For Giving Tuesday, we thought some people may want to give time." Collier said.
They also got a match up to $5,000 from Cape Girardeau business,Buzzi Unicem USA. This is a big deal for an organization who gets a large portion of donations from Giving Tuesday every year.
“If you donate $10, Buzzi is going to match it, so you’re really donating $20 and providing twice as many meals to families facing hunger," Collier said.“Giving Tuesday is just an opportunity to highlight the important of giving back, We’ve been through Black Friday, we've been through Cyber Monday, so now just to take pause and realize there are people not quite as blessed as some of us are. Giving Tuesday is just a great way to focus our message.�
