The Helping Hands Juneteenth Food and Commodity Drive now underway.
Anne Austin chairs the Putnam County Federation of Democratic Women. She said the drive collects essential supplies for people in need, including food and hygiene items.
“We’re all people, and we all have dignity,” Austin said. “And we all deserve to have enough food, to have shampoo to clean our hair, to have deodorant to wear, all the basic needs of humanity. And unfortunately, in our society, we have a lot of people who don’t have enough.”
Austin said commodities like toilet paper, laundry detergent, and soap are not thought of as items of need during a food drive, but they are desperately needed. Austin said the drive is in celebration of Juneteenth.
“On June 19, 1865, federal troops rode into Galveston, Texas and freed the last of the slaves in the United States,” Austin said. “It’s a day of freedom and a month of freedom as well, so that’s why we do this as a Juneteenth food and commodities drive.”
Some of the biggest needs are soap, laundry detergent pods, toilet paper, cereal, soup, and crackers. Austin said some items, like peanut butter and macaroni and cheese, should not be donated.
“Every year, I ask Becca Duncan at Helping Hands, ‘What do you have and what do you need?'” Austin said. “And they’ve already had a large donation of canned tuna, and they don’t need any more canned tuna right now, then I’m going to tell people not to get any more canned tuna,”
Residents can donate at the Putnam County Democratic Party office on North Cedar Avenue in Cookeville. Austin said donations will be accepted weekdays through June 19 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Austin said donations will be accepted from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
