There are many different ways to know the coming of each
season. We know summertime is here when the days are longer and hotter,
mowing the lawn becomes a weekly pastime, everyone starts talking about their
vacation plans and kids are home from school and plundering the kitchen
cabinets for snacks all day long.
At Harvest Hope we know summertime is truly here when the
waiting room in our Emergency Food Pantry starts filling to capacity first
thing in the morning – everyday. We know it’s summer when the line of hungry
people outside our buildings at Shop Road and 12th Street in Cayce
stretch down the sidewalk, and we jump from providing food to 600-700 people a
day to over 1,100-1,200 people a day. We know it’s summer when our agency
partners need more food because their pantries are running out. We know it’s
summer when we start seeing more families and more children at our doorsteps.
The first two days after Memorial Day we were greeted by
long lines outside the EFP and saw so many faces of hunger at our doorstep
before we could even open. We served over 850 families in two days. We know
summertime is here and we know it is going to be long and difficult for so many
families.
South Carolina is second in the nation for families
suffering from food hardship, with 24% of our population struggling to pay for
food. This summer families will struggle to replace the school meals that
normally provide nourishment for their children. Seniors will struggle to
manage paying for their medication and housing expenses. Working mothers and
fathers will wonder what they can do to make sure they have a roof over their
heads and reliable ways to get back and forth to their jobs while they worry if
they will even have a job tomorrow.
To meet the needs of all of them, of everyone struggling
with hunger from the Pee Dee, through the Midlands and up to Greenville and
Laurens Counties, Harvest Hope needs to distribute over 5 million pounds of
food in June, July and August. We know we cannot do it without help from
compassionate souls in our SC communities, and we are blessed to have help from
community partners who have helped us find innovative ways to make donating
easier.
Wells Fargo is a very special sponsor giving the South
Carolina Food Bank Association a challenge grant of $150,000 split
between all of the 4 food banks if we can match it prior to June 15.
This is very important and you can make your donation double by taking
just a minute right now to make a donation at http://scfoodbankassociation.org/.
Other ways to easily help would be to visit a Corner Pantry
station for gas or a snack, please also consider spending $1 or
$5 and complete an "I HOPE" card for Harvest Hope. This
promotion is going on right now and throughout all of June at all 32
Corner Pantry filling station locations are selling our HOPE Floats mission
cards. You can visit their stores in Columbia, Chapin, Lexington, Hartsville,
Irmo, Manning, Orangeburg, Sumter and West Columbia and after filling up stop
in to make an easy $1 to $5 donation by buying a HOPE Floats card and leave a
simple message of your Hope. Last year this wonderful partnership gave us the
means to provide over 23,000 meals to the hungry in our community, and with
your support we hope to see an even greater result this June.
Most long-time Greenville residents are familiar with The Clock
drive-in restaurants, which have been serving up great diner style local fare
for decades. The location on White Horse Road has pitched in to help feed
hungry families in the Upstate by selling HOPE Floats cards, so plan to cruise
past and show your support when you’re in the area.
As summer is a time for families and family activities,
Harvest Hope is proud to partner for the third year with Riverbanks Zoo and
Gardens for Toucan Tuesdays. Every Tuesday this summer, two can visit
Riverbanks for the price of one with a donation of two cans of non-perishable
food to Harvest Hope. Toucan Tuesdays will run for 12 consecutive Tuesdays
throughout the summer, ending on August 28.
Riverbanks Zoo visitors donated nearly 2,000 pounds of food
during last year's Toucan Tuesdays campaign, which helped provide meals for
those struggling to feed their families. This summer we’re hoping that visitors
will enjoy the many attractions at Riverbanks Zoo and double that amount!
We are more than thrilled to enter our second summer
partnering with ABC Columbia and McDonalds for the ABCs of Hunger. Be sure to
watch any ABC Columbia newscast for information and updates on the food drive,
and drop off canned good donations at any of the McDonalds restaurant locations
in Columbia.
This is also the time of year for Harvest Hope’s EXTRA Mile
Campaign. The EXTRA Mile Campaign is our summer hunger relief
program and offers a simple way for everyone to go the extra mile to help
others during the summer months. All we ask is for everyone to skip a lunch
just once a week until August 31 and donate the equivalent of a day’s
lunch money to the EXTRA Mile Campaign. For example, $10 a week
for 12 weeks would be $120, which would provide over 540 meals for a hungry
family.
Take thirty seconds to think about someone who skips a meal
not because they choose to or because it might be convenient but because the
food is not there and they do not know where their next meal will even come
from. Try to put yourself in that mindset for just thirty seconds, and then
realize that’s the reality many people in South Carolina face every minute of
every day.They fear there will be no food on the table at each meal and wishing
will not change that.
If someone needs help putting food on their table – no matter
where they may live in South Carolina – then they are a part of our community
and we must find a way to help them. We must put food on their tables.
We are so grateful to so many community partners who provide
many, many ways to donate to Harvest Hope. You can help us make sure we find
the means to feed the hungry as summer begins.
Best wishes to you and your loved ones and thank you for all
you do to help others,
Denise
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