A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to the Inter-Faith food shuttle.
Whereas, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle of Wake County, in the belief that hunger is unacceptable, alleviates hunger by developing systems to recover, prepare, and distribute wholesome, perishable food to the area's poor, hungry, undernourished, and homeless people; and
Whereas, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle began its mission of alleviating hunger in 1989 by rescuing food that would otherwise be thrown away and putting it into the hands of those in need – into the hands of the hungry; and
Whereas, this year the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle will rescue over 5,000,000 pounds of food from over 220 donors, including grocery stores, restaurants, vendors, and the North Carolina State Farmers Market, deliver food to over 200 programs in seven counties, prepare 154,000 meals for the homeless and low‑income children, provide 500 bags of food each week to low‑income seniors and families, and utilize over 28,000 volunteer hours to feed those in need; and
Whereas, the Inter-Faith Shuttle uses blast‑freeze technology to effectively stabilize perishable food that has a very limited shelf life, which helps to retain the food's taste as well as its nutritional value, and distributes the food to those in need; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a nonprofit organization, the sum of one hundred twenty‑five thousand dollars ($125,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year to help support the organization's Comprehensive Food Stabilization Program, which uses a unique method to freeze perishable food that has a very limited shelf life for distribution at a later date, improving the nutritional impact of meals served in soup kitchens and shelters in seven counties and the transportation of this blast-frozen product to other food banks for distribution across an extended area of North Carolina.
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a nonprofit organization, the sum of seven hundred seventy‑nine thousand dollars ($779,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year to assist other organizations in the State in establishing similar blast‑freeze technology programs to get food to more people in need.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.