FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Farm Credit Associations of North Carolina recently made a donation of $40,000 to the NC Baptists On Mission as a part of the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
This donation was used to support the purchase of a refrigerated food truck. The food truck will deliver fresh produce boxes across the state to families negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Deliveries will be made to local churches, soup kitchens, and other institutions, and in turn those organizations will directly provide them to individuals and families in need. With the shutdown of schools and restaurants during much of this pandemic, this USDA program gives NC farmers another outlet for their produce.
The CEOs of AgCarolina Farm Credit, Cape Fear Farm Credit, and Carolina Farm Credit are Dave Corum, Evan Kleinhans, and Vance Dalton respectively. They issued the following joint statement regarding the donation: “NC Baptists on Mission is an organization we support because of their commitment to the community. Working with this group sheds light on the importance of farming and the need to help serve others during this time of difficulty. This refrigerated food truck will benefit those experiencing food insecurities as well as farmers who need a market for their produce. The Farm Credit Associations of North Carolina are proud to serve the agricultural and rural communities of our state.”
Cape Fear Farm Credit is an agricultural lending cooperative owned by its member-borrowers. It provides loans for land, equipment, livestock and production as well as rural home mortgages and rural living. Cape Fear Farm Credit has branches serving Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Harnett, Hoke, New Hanover, Pender, Robeson, Sampson, and Scotland counties. It is part of the national Farm Credit System, a network of financial cooperatives established in 1916 to provide a dependable source of credit to farmers and rural America. To locate a branch near you, visit www.capefearfc.com or call 1.800.368.5819.
—Janna Bass, Cape Fear Farm Credit