With the goal of helping address the negative health impacts associated with systemic poverty and hunger in rural Georgia, the GCF Rural Health Fund recently awarded a three-year $150,000 sustaining grant to Northwest Georgia Hunger Ministries based in Rome and a three-year $75,000 grant to expand access to healthy food in rural underserved communities.

Commenting on the grants, Board Chairman Emeritus Rick Gilbert said: “We serve as the major provider of healthy food to those in need in the nine-county region of Northwest Georgia. With the rapid rise in food costs, we are serving almost twice the number of families from a year ago and we expect the needs to grow more. These investments by Georgia Community Foundation will allow us to meet the increased needs while extending our reach to remote areas where access to healthy food is extremely limited and poverty rates highest. We are very grateful for GCF’s partnership with us.”