Realtors, recent home sellers to donate non-perishable food items to local pantries
Local realtors found a way to help with Union County’s food insecurity problem.
While Beth Callaway, president of the El Dorado Board of Realtors for 2020, was at a real estate convention, she heard about a mortgage company working with its clients to bring non-perishable items to local food pantries from houses that were just sold.
“I thought, ‘this is a no-brainer,’” Callaway said.
She said she brought it to the other members and they were all in agreement, and wondered why it hadn’t happened sooner.
According to the Feeding America website, Union County is at a food insecurity rate of 21.1%. The website also states that the annual food budget shortfall is $4,350,000.
According to the Arkansas Foodbank in a November 2019 News-Times report, about 8,000 people in the county are considered to be food insecure.
Callaway said she and
other realtors heard from the Foodbank and learned more about how serious the issue is in the area.
The program asks that those selling their homes will fill a bag of the non-perishable items they don’t plan on taking with them during the move. Then the realtor who is helping clients buy the house will take the bag to any local food pantry in El Dorado.
“Sometimes [people moving] leave it to the next person, but sometimes people don’t want the other person’s food,” Callaway said. “It was just a very easy thing we could do to help with food insecurity.”
Callaway said the program launched last month.
She said all realtors in the area are involved in the project. Callaway made the first delivery to a food bank this week.