For many years, Operation Lunchbox has been going above and beyond in their efforts to ensure that no child goes hungry in Henry County.   

  In light of recent complications due to COVID-19, Operation Lunchbox has seen an increase in demand for their services and is working to  meet many additional needs.

  “We were feeding 2,000 to 2,700 kids, a week, previously. Our increase has been about 30 percent,” said  Dave Newman, Operation Lunchbox CEO. “We’ve provided over 15,000 hot meals and about 13,000 or 14,000 grocery bags to families, so we’ve fed about 20,000 families since COVID-19 began. Since this hit, we kind of took a step back and said, ‘We’ll feed whoever.’”

  During spring break from April 6-10, when Henry County School students were not covered by the school lunch program, Operation Lunchbox stepped up to feed the kids for that week. 

  “During spring break, the school board did not have the money allocated to feed the kids, so we took on the hot meals for spring break and partnered with the Board of Education to do that,” said Newman. 

  The organization continues to feed families by providing bags of groceries that will last for three to four days and include items for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. 

  The grocery bags are delivered to families each Friday. However, if families have additional needs, Operation Lunchbox is there to assist.

  “If there’s a need, they can call us and come get more,” said Newman. “We get calls for additional needs daily.” 

  They are also providing much needed items for babies, to include diapers, baby wipes, formula, baby soap, powder, baby food and other items. 

  All of this is made possible due to Operation Lunchbox’s dedicated group of volunteers. In recent months, their number of volunteers has increased and now include many new faces. 

  “Our volunteers have been great. A lot of our previous volunteers were elderly and they did not want to come out through all this, so it’s been mainly new volunteers,” said Newman. “We’ve always had a great volunteer core, but I can say through COVID-19, partners, volunteers and even my team members, we’ve all come together stronger through this.”

  The volunteers spend roughly 10-20 hours a week packing the grocery bags, delivering the groceries, preparing hot meals, serving meals and preparing the assembly lines. 

  “We used to have one volunteer day, which was Thursday night. Now, we are open Tuesday through Friday for volunteers,” said Newman. 

  Operation Lunchbox will continue to provide groceries to the community over the summer.

  “We are going to continue groceries and food throughout the summer. Since COVID-19, we are going to keep going until the next school year,” said Newman. 

  They are also looking to provide a number of hot meals for the community in the coming months, although the final details have not been solidified at this time.

  In regard to donations, Newman said that they have been seeing a rise in donated grocery items. 

  “The people that are still working, churches, business partners, and everybody else in the community have been great in helping us get what we need,” said Newman. 

  However, a call for groceries still remains, as there are many more needs that they would like to address in Henry County and surrounding areas. 

  “We definitely need more groceries because the numbers keep rising, but we’re not hurting in that area,” said Newman. “But, we can always use more to give more food.”

  Additionally, as a COVID-19 response team, Operation Lunchbox hopes that those in need will reach out for assistance. 

  “We we are here to help families and people in need during this time,” said Newman. “If they need help, they can reach out.”

  For more information, contact Dave Newman at 678-333-4900 or dave@operationlunchbox.org.

  To donate, visit www.operationlunchbox.org or text LUNCHBOX to 77977.