ATLANTA — Thousands of children in Georgia depend on MUST Ministries to feed them each summer when school is out, according to the organization. But the church says right now they don't have enough donations to make sure those kids can eat.
Turns out, they're not the only charity struggling amid summer inflation and national supply chain issues.
Every summer, MUST Ministries provides half a million meals to kids in metro Atlanta who otherwise might not have anything to eat.
"It's critical. We feed on average 6,000 kids each week every summer, and we feed them every week, So we just want to make sure kids don't go hungry. It's vitally important to us," said MUST Ministries Vice President Greg Elder.
He said they're struggling to get donations this year. Food is more expensive, so they're getting fewer donations - and supply chain issues are limiting some of the prepackaged food that's available.
"COVID reset everything," he said. "We do have some help for the USDA for part of the summer. But we are serving in seven counties, and we only have USDA support in Cobb and Cherokee. So if we don't have help from the community, we don't know where that food is going to come from."
The ministry is set to start handing out food Wednesday when its summer lunch program starts but leaders don't know how far after that they'll get.
"The donations have been a little slow in coming. Right now we have about enough to feed every child for a week. And there are nine weeks in the summer. So we really do need the community to step up and help us to make sure we have enough to feed the kids for the summer," he said.
Other food pantries in Atlanta have also appealed to the public, saying many are falling short of the need of the community.
Elder said he doesn't want kids worried about where their next meal will come from.
"There's just no way a child should have to make that decision. We don't want them to have to make that decision this summer," he said.
Elder said people can help right away by making a Kids Kit to donate. The kit costs about $10 to assemble and the ministry has provided directions on how to create one here. People can donate it during their drop-off event in Marietta at 1280 Field Parkway.