Staff members of Sevier County Food Ministries (SCFM) in Sevierville were pleased with the results of Tuesday’s annual fundraiser for Second Harvest, recognizing the relationship between Second Harvest and food partners in the 18 counties they serve.
The “Without Reservations” event held in Knoxville raised over $47,000, which helps Second Harvest keep the cost of shared maintenance fees down for food pantries in Jefferson County as well.
Sevier County Food Ministries is the largest recipient of Second Harvest food in 18 counties, having received 378,005 pounds of food from the facility last year.
“We feed an average of 800 families per week,” said Steve Streibig, director of SCFM. “If we didn’t have Second Harvest as a resource for food, we would be hard-pressed to come up with another alternative. There isn’t anyone else doing what they do, plus I think they do their work very well.”
According to communications coordinator Penny Bandy, Second Harvest receives 33 percent of its $1.2 million budget from public support, direct mail solicitation, and events. Another 44 percent comes from shared maintenance fees, the low cost paid per pound of food by pantries and other food distributors.
“Our food partners don’t actually purchase food from us,” Bandy said. “The fees paid, which average seven cents per pound and have a maximum of 14 cents per pound, help us defray the overhead and operation costs we have.”
Second Harvest also receives funding from grants, foundations, and Knox County government. Community support, Bandy said, is crucial for food pantries and other agencies to survive.
Streibig said that he appreciates the fact that Second Harvest offers a wide variety of healthy foods.
“They also provide us with healthy snacks for children, like yogurt, which is so important,” Streibig said. “We also get fresh produce for free, which is wonderful. We just recently got a big shipment of corn, and it went very fast.”

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