MARION, S.C.– Congressman Tom Rice (R-S.C.) today visited the Marion County Youth Day Organization, the Marion County Coordinating Council’s Creating Healthy Food Environments (CHFE), and the Marion County Branch NAACP to thank the Farmers to Families Food Box program partners for distributing healthy foods to those in need as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Congressman Rice Visits Marion County to Thank Farmers to Families Program Partners

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the partner organizations who are helping with the Farmers to Families Food Box program are making a real difference in the lives of families in need of aid. My office was happy to help The Marion County Youth Day Organization, Marion County Coordinating Council’s CHFE, and the Marion County Branch NAACP to participate in this program and secure 2,000 boxes of food for Marion families this month. The Farmers to Families Food Box program is helping so many in need and simultaneously assisting our agriculture industry during a difficult economic time.  This project, and those who participate in it, are proof that South Carolinians are caring, helpful, and resilient people,” said Congressman Rice.

"We are committed to helping citizens with healthy food," said the Marion County Youth Day Organization in a statement.

“Safety during COVID-19 and healthy eating for people with diabetes, especially among our youth in Marion County, is a large concern for healthy eating and providing healthy food,” said the Marion County Coordinating Council CHFE in a statement. 

"The health and well-being of all Marion County citizens is one of our goals," said the Marion County NAACP in a statement.

The Farmers to Families Food Box program was created at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, USDA is exercising authority under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to purchase and distribute agricultural products to those in need.

Through this program, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is partnering with national, regional and local distributors, whose workforces have been significantly impacted by the closure of restaurants, hotels and other food service businesses, to purchase up to $6 billion in fresh produce, dairy and meat products from American producers of all sizes. Distributors package these products into family-sized boxes, then transport them to food banks, community and faith-based organizations, and other non-profits serving Americans in need. 

To date USDA contractors have delivered 163,326,429 of fresh produce, milk, dairy and cooked meats to disadvantaged Americans across the country.

The Farmers to Families Food Box program will end on May 31, 2021. It was designed and implemented as a temporary, emergency relief effort to respond to severe market disruption caused by a global pandemic.

You can find information about food box distributors and the areas they serve here.