Alpharetta Bank Customers Help Spread the Love

Four tons of love is being spread by two banks and their branches at food pantries across metro Atlanta in the form of peanut butter and jelly.

Bank of North Georgia and Bank of Coweta, two divisions of Synovus Bank, hosted the 4th Annual Peanut Butter and Jelly Food Drive to benefit children served by 30 local food pantries that are located near their 46 branches in metro Atlanta, according to a news release from Bank of North Georgia

The ‘Spread the Love’ PB&J Food Drive was held from April 2 (National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day) to May 14. In total, Bank of North Georgia and Bank of Coweta collected 5,899 jars at 7,997 pounds, which is 4 tons of PB&J. That is enough to make more than 63,978 sandwiches for children in metro Atlanta (with approximately two ounces of PB&J spread on each sandwich). Creamy peanut butter was the clear winner over crunchy and the bank received more grape jelly than any other flavor.

The food pantry that received the most PB&J was North Fulton Community Charities in Roswell with 1,353 jars. The school that collected the most PB&J was Chrysalis Experiential Academy in Roswell with 800 jars. The bank branch that collected the most was the Bank of Coweta Jefferson Street Branch with 337 jars.

Since 2008, Bank of North Georgia has collected more than 10 tons of peanut butter and jelly through this meaningful community relations effort. This year, they brought it to a whole new level by inviting the Bank of Coweta team to participate as well as 17 partner schools.

The school partners included , Central Elementary School in Carrollton, Cherokee High School in Canton, Chrysalis Experiential Academy in Roswell, Crabapple Lane Elementary School in Peachtree City, East Coweta High School, Georgia Ballet in Marietta (parents and students), Huddleston Elementary School in Peachtree City (teachers only), Jasper Middle School, Livsey Elementary School in Tucker, Marietta Middle School, Mt. Bethel Elementary School in Marietta, Newnan High School, Northgate High School in Newnan, Porterdale Elementary School in Covington, Sandy Springs Middle School and Tyrone Elementary School.

According to Don Howard, Regional CEO for Synovus Atlanta, “The challenging economy has caused more and more families to reach out to local food banks for assistance and we felt compelled to take action...Inviting our local school partners to join in the collection effort proved that we can make a tremendous impact when we work together to support a worthy cause. We are so pleased that the 17 partner schools contributed 42 percent of the total jars collected this year.”  

The bank held a contest for their team members to guess the total number of PB&J jars collected, the total weight in pounds, and the number of sandwiches that can be made by placing two ounces of PB&J on each sandwich. Three lucky team members came closest to our grand totals. Brooke Gibbs, Teller at South Park in Carrollton, Donna Huser, Personal Banker at Tucker, and Beverly Cox, Head Teller at Bank of Coweta in Senoia will each receive a $20 Publix Gift Card.

Local Food Pantry Partners: The 30 food pantries were selected based on their proximity to Bank of North Georgia and Bank of Coweta’s branches. Partners included Atlanta Union Mission, Breaking Down Walls Ministry, Bremen Food and Clothing, Bowdon Area United Christian Ministries, Camp and Christian Aid Society, Carroll County Soup Kitchen, The Center for Family Resources, Community Action Center, Community Assistance Resources and Emergency, Community Food Pantry of Covington, Coweta Community Food Pantry, Fayette Samaritans, Food Banks of America, Inc., Gift of Love, Haralson County Health Department, Hearts to Nourish Hope, Inc., Helping Hands of Paulding County, Helping in His Name Ministries, Mt. Prospect Baptist Church Food Pantry, MUST Ministries, North Fulton Community Charities, North Gwinnett Co-Op, The Pantry, The Place of Forsyth, The Real Life Crisis Center, Rockdale Emergency Relief, Salvation Army - Canton, Salvation Army – Covington, Sonlight Vision Ministries, Inc., and the Tucker Food Pantry.

Visit www.bankofnorthgeorgia.com and www.bankofcoweta.com for more information. on their community relations programs.