Outreach to 'meat the need'

Thursday, June 9, 2005

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

Community Outreach has begun its "Meat the Need Hunger Day" drive and has already had some success. "We just had some food donated by the post office and Boy Scouts," Corky Nelson said. "We're looking for food and meat to feed the hungry in this area. We need to raise the conscientiousness about the issue."

Because peak need times don't always coincide with periods of peak donations there are times when the shelves start getting bare. "We're trying to keep the shelves stocked so when someone in need comes in we have food for them," Nelson said.

Nelson said that the need for food is increasing as time goes by. "We find the people needing help are increasing each year," Nelson said. "We need to keep up with the demand for services."

Community Outreach does more than provide on-going help for families it also provides emergency help on a limited basis for those who may be temporarily out of work because of health, they may have lost a job altogether or they may be facing some other financial difficulty. "Commodities are given out on a monthly basis but we also give emergency help to people facing a crisis," Nelson said. "We also offer temporary relief for people to get over a bad time."

Not every person who comes in gets the same amount of food.

"The amount of food someone gets is based on the size of the family," Nelson said. "Someone with a large family will get more."

Community Outreach believes in the adage, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day --Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life."

In addition to the food given out, advice and training are also offered. Nelson teaches a class in budgeting to help people make their resources meet their needs.

"We have a class each Friday at 1:30 p.m.," Nelson said. "If someone can't make it at that time we'll work with them to meet at a time they can attend."

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