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Access to nutritious food significantly affects overall health and well-being. To fight hunger and advance our purpose of helping people get well and live healthier, Merit Health Natchez has partnered with the Natchez Chamber of Commerce, in our third annual Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive.

This year’s drive is benefitting River Assembly Feed the Hungry, Natchez First Assembly of God and Pilgrim Baptist Church food pantries in our community.

Why Peanut Butter? Peanut butter is a nutritious, high-protein, shelf-stable food that is kid-friendly and popular, making it a much-needed item for food banks. Even though it’s easy to buy, peanut butter is one of the least donated items given to food banks across the U.S. Let’s help change that in our community!

In our first year of Jars of Love, we collected 439 jars of peanut butter, and last year we collected 1,539 jars. This year, our goal, with the help of our employees and our community, is to collect 2,000 jars to spread among our local food pantries.

I am asking for support and participation from our local businesses and organizations in this effort to fight hunger in our local community. By collecting jars of peanut butter at your location or making a donation, you can make a real difference in our community. You have my word that this is my once per year solicitation. I will not ever seek donations from you for any other reason.

Here’s how you can help:

Set up a collection bin at your business
Encourage employees and customers to donate
Ask members of your civic clubs, sororities and organizations to participate
Make a bulk donation if possible
We’ll be collecting donations until March 24, and we’d be happy to pick up your donations from you. We will be thanking our local business partners and organizations on our hospital’s Facebook page, and we will tag your business in our posts.  If you want to send us pictures of your employees donating, please email them to kay.ketchings@merithealthnatchez.com.  If you want to know more about how you can become involved, call 601-443-2534.  We can provide you with promotional materials and answer any questions you may have.

If you prefer, you can bring your donations to any of these drop off locations:

–Merit Health Natchez, Information Desk
–Merit Health Outpatient Therapy Services, first floor of The Doctors’ Pavilion, 46 Sgt. Prentiss Drive
–The Natchez Chamber of Commerce, 211 Main Street

Our Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive is another way we demonstrate our care for this community. I hope each of you will join us – and encourage your friends to as well – in this important initiative to help fight hunger. I dropped off 24 jars this week and plan to bring more over the next few weeks as we work together to reach our goal. Thank you for your participation!

Kevin Samrow is CEO of Merit Health Natchez.