TURNER COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) — A free food pantry in Ashburn is facing tough choices as donations fall short, forcing the organization to reduce distribution and leaving some families without meals.

Sheppard’s Pantry, a free food bank in Ashburn that typically distributes meal boxes, each with over $100 of food every week, is now giving out boxes every other week due to a lack of funding and donations.

>> READ MORE: South Ga. food pantry to cut food distributions due to lack of funding <<

Volunteer JoAnne Brown said the community is already feeling the impact.

“I take a box to a guy on my way home from here whenever we’re working,” Brown said. “He has told me that just this past week, because we didn’t have [boxes to give out] one of the weeks, he didn’t have any breakfast. People are in need, and we should help.”

Sheppard’s Pantry offers snacks, meats, produce and more in the boxes they distribute. Volunteers deliver food for people who can’t drive or are unable to attend distribution days.

Director Diane Saylor said she started the pantry because she knows what it’s like to be without food.

“I was a child of hunger, and I know what it is to be hungry, and I don’t want to see anybody else hungry if there’s anything I can do about that,” Saylor said. “I worry mostly for the children because, like I said, I was hungry when I was a child.”

Ray Jordan, a retired educator in Turner County, noticed that on certain weeks the pantry didn’t have food boxes available. After learning it was because of a lack of funding, he started a GoFundMe campaign.

“I’ve noticed the last few weeks that occasionally I would see a sign on the fence that said ‘no food boxes this week,’” Jordan said.

He explained that he then asked if Saylor would mind if he set up the GoFundMe, to which she gave him the go-ahead.

If you would like to donate, you can visit the GoFundMe page here.

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