Mt. Prospect Baptist Church was bustling with activity Friday as the Jarvis Hayes Foundation, in conjunction with Feed The Children and community volunteers, provided boxes of food and toiletry items to 400 local families in need.

Hayes, a forward for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets, played high school basketball at Douglas High in Atlanta, but attends Mt. Prospect in Villa Rica in the off season. This is the first time his foundation has joined with the international hunger relief organization Feed the Children to provide boxes of food and personal care items to Villa Rica residents, but they have already done so in the past in Atlanta.

Hayes couldn’t attend the event during the basketball season, but his parents, James and Yvonne Hayes, said it was something he has been wanting to do for his church family and his community.

“He comes to church at Mt. Prospect when he’s here in the summer and he really wanted to do something with the church family in the community,” said Yvonne Hayes.

The Jarvis Hayes Foundation and Feed The Children held a similar event at Thanksgiving at Compassion Atlanta, providing boxes for another 400 families. Yvonne Hayes said the success of Friday’s event could make it an annual tradition in Villa Rica.

“We’d like for Jarvis to make that decision, but we’ll leave it up to him,” said Bernice Brooks, who helped bring the event to Mt. Prospect.

Ithica Elementary, Bay Springs Middle, Glanton-Hindsman Elementary, Villa Rica Elementary, Villa Rica Middle and Villa Rica High were all given 45 vouchers good for three boxes of food and toiletry items, which were then distributed to school families in need by the school counselors and social workers. Even so, the need is so large that people showed up at last week’s event without vouchers who had to be turned away.

Brooks, a Carroll County School Board member, said she has seen when visiting schools that there are many more people in the community who need help than there are supplies. Her observations are supported by statistics provided by Feed The Children, which show that Georgia has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country with 3.7 million people, or 14 percent of the population, hungry or at risk of hunger. Unemployment and poverty are also higher in Georgia than the national average and Villa Rica has historically had a higher poverty rate than the state of Georgia, according to a Feed The Children press release.

“Every little bit helps, especially this time of year,” said Mt. Prospect Pastor James Potts said.