by a donor-advised fund of the Atlanta Jewish
Foundation with a substantial donation for us to
focus on feeding children. So we've been using that
donation to also make what we call Big Brown Bags.
They’re just simply large brown grocery bags packed
with about 20 pounds of assorted food items and
healthy snacks, and things to help children get
through the week. We deliver out about a hundred
of those every week, and we'll continue to do that
through August when the children get ready to go
back to school. We also receive funding through The
Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy, so in
those Big Brown Bags we include an assortment of
storybooks, art activity books, coloring books, and
educational materials that help children keep
reading and staying engaged in the learning process
over the summer.
How have you seen your nearby community come
together during this really difficult time?
ZM: We've been really fortunate because we have
such strong committed partners. Of course our
collaborative has been in existence for almost 25
years now, so it's a good, strong, well established
partnership. We've been really fortunate that a lot
of those partners, regardless of the risks involved,
have been willing to step up and volunteer to do this
work.
JL: We also have had several faith-based
organizations reach out to us because they have
seen on social media and in our newspaper what
we're doing as far as trying to improve food access
within the county. So they actually have called and
said to us-- we would like to bring a trailer filled with
meat products and water, paper products, fresh
vegetables and other supplies. That’s been a real
blessing to the people in our community. And it’s
been encouraging to see that, because of media
coverage and word of mouth, people are actually
reaching out to us, willing to come and participate
because they see what a positive impact is being
made.
Do you think your involvement with the Two
Georgia's Initiative has helped you all deal with
these COVID-19 challenges and changes in
direction?
ZM: Healthcare Georgia Foundation has been
tremendously important in helping us look at
everything we do through that lens of health equity.
The pandemic has created a situation where so
many of the inequities that were already existing
have now risen to the surface. So not only our
partners, but also our community leaders, are
beginning to see some of the disparities that were
existing before that have now just been magnified
because of the pandemic. So it gives us an
opportunity to begin looking at things that need to
be addressed on a deeper level, and Healthcare
Georgia Foundation is so supportive and
instrumental in this process.
21
“Your efforts to help families in Cook County
are beyond amazing. How wonderful it is to
read your newsletters and to see how much you
are doing to make a difference. It actually
dawned on me that we have not had as many
patients from Cook County that have identified
with any social needs, especially food. I truly
believe that is because of all the work Cook
County Family Connection and partners are doing
in their community. Thank you so much for
all that you are doing…Especially in these hard
times!”
-A Letter of Thanks to Cook County Family
Connection from a Community Health
Navigator at Tift Regional Medical/Southwell