JACKSON – With one in five people in Northampton County suffering from food insecurity, there will soon be more assistance made available to those in need.

Liz Reasoner, Executive Director of Food Bank of the Albemarle, spoke to the Northampton Board of Commissioners here on May 20 to give them more information about the expansion of TEFAP in the county. TEFAP stands for The Emergency Food Assistance Program.

The US Department of Agriculture sponsors the federal program by coordinating with state agencies to distribute a variety of nutritious, high-quality foods to low-income Americans, including the elderly, at no cost. It is a supplemental program for emergency food assistance.

“You’ve been doing quarterly mass distributions,” Reasoner explained, but noted that would change in June.

“In Northampton County, we will have seven partner agencies throughout the community that will be working with us to distribute those commodities every month, so people don’t have to wait for the once-a-quarter distribution,” she continued.

Those agencies will be different churches and organizations located throughout the county. Reasoner explained the distributions will also include hygiene items, and many of the foods are locally grown in northeastern North Carolina.

“People should be able to go to the emergency food bank when they need groceries and not have to wait on mass distribution,” she explained. “The more food we can get into the households, the more resources these people will be able to have.”

Board Chairman Charles Tyner thanked Reasoner for the information and for the work the Food Bank does in Northampton County. He asked to be informed if there was a need in the future to expand to more food distribution sites in the county, so that they could assist in finding more places.

Food Bank of the Albemarle serves 15 counties in northeastern North Carolina, providing food to over 134,000 households.