Minutes of the August 19, 2021 Meeting
The Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Elizabeth Stevens at 12:15 PM.
Beverly Gibson offered the invocation. Tommy Blankenship led the Pledge of Allegiance and Bob Chappelle introduced the meeting guests.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Board meeting today
• Reminder that Rotary General Grant Fund applications are on our website
NEW MEMBERS
Brent Baker was introduced by Claire McCarron
Program: Michael Ledger, President and CEO, Feeding the Gulf Coast. He was introduced by Michael Holland.
Michael Ledger joined Feeding the Gulf Coast in June 2019 as the Florida Branch Manager. Under Michael’s leadership, the Florida Facility distributed nearly 15 million pounds of food throughout the Florida Panhandle, equating to over half of the food bank’s distribution. Michael consistently implemented strategies to serve those in need while overcoming challenges presented by limited facility space and ongoing Hurricane Michael and Covid-19 response efforts. Michael was promoted to President & CEO in July 2020. Michael has over 30 years of experience with business development and operational strategy and has brought food bank experience and diverse management leadership to Feeding the Gulf Coast. He enjoys music, athletics, travel, and spending time with his two adopted dogs
Feeding the Gulf Coast is one of 200 members of the Feeding America national program. This regional chapter began in September 1980 and covers 24 counties in southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. They have some 400 partner agencies across the 24 counties that they assist in providing food. They feed approximately 300,000 people per year and have distributed some 318million pounds of food. They acquire from grocery stores, farmers and of course individual and corporate donations. According to Mr Ledger, there are 132,970 food insecure families in their 24 counties which represents 19.7% of the family population of his geography. One in four children as a subset are also food insecure. Feeding the Gulf Coast is mostly volunteer driven and there were some 225thousand hours volunteered in 2020. Feeding the Gulf Coast provided 39% more meals during the pandemic in the last year than in previous years.
President Stevens thanked Mr Ledger for his presentation and noted that, in his honor, a donation had been made by the club to Dauphin Island Sea Lab.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 12:59 PM.
Rob Diehl