Mississippi Food Network (MFN) recently upgraded the refrigeration unit on one of the trailers in its rural truck delivery system.
The food bank’s rural system delivers food to member agencies in outlying areas of the organization’s 56-county service area. The new reefer unit, installed in September, requires less maintenance and improves reliability, MFN said, helping it improve its rural service throughout the state.
“The addition of this new refrigeration unit will have a direct impact on our mission to relieve poverty-related hunger through our member agencies,” said Marilyn Blackledge, director of external affairs. “So many of our member agencies are in the rural areas and rely on our truck delivery system to help provide for the people in their communities.
“We are very appreciative of Southern States Utility, Carrier Transicold and Feeding America for providing this for our organization.”
The upgraded refrigeration unit was made possible by grant funding from Feeding America and Carrier Transicold through an initiative to provide state-of-the-art equipment to food banks across the US. Mississippi’s local Carrier Dealer, Southern States Utility, provided and installed the new refrigeration unit.
“We have been long-time supporters of Mississippi Food Network’s mission and were pleased to be part of this initiative to upgrade their equipment,” said Mike Thornton, president of Southern States Utility.
Mississippi Food Network, headquartered in Jackson, is the only food bank in the state. It accumulates, stores and distributes food and household items to more than 430 member agencies, including emergency food pantries, day care centers, emergency shelters, group homes, soup kitchens, teen centers, alcohol and drug rehabs, afterschool programs, homeless shelters and senior citizen programs.
MFN serves approximately 150,000 people each month and distributes approximately 2 million pounds of food per month. Visit msfoodnet.org to learn more.
