Denise Holland, Harvest Hope Food Bank

2011-12-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

Everyone Can Make a Difference

Imagine an empty plate at a dining table. Imagine the anxiety and concern of parents who desperately want to make sure their family has enough to eat, but circumstances out of their control prevent them from having what they need to put food on their tables.

Imagine that Christmas means fourteen days of hunger to many children. During the holiday break, which is two weeks for most area school districts, the free or reduced breakfast and lunches that form the staple for so many at-risk school children are not available. Parents already struggling to make ends meet often cannot find the extra money to feed their children during those chilly fourteen days. Imagine a child who, rather than looking forward to Christmas and being excited about all the holiday season is going to offer, only looks at this time of year as a time of hunger. There are children who dread the coming of the holiday season.

This is the reality for almost 16% of South Carolina’s population, who currently live below the poverty line. More sobering is the fact that 29% of our children under the age of 18 live in poverty, a total of over 102,000 children in South Carolina. There are a lot of empty plates in our communities every night and the numbers are increasing.

A measure of this increase can be seen through our work at Harvest Hope Food Bank as we struggle to provide emergency food for the hungry across 20 SC counties. From July 2010 through June 2011, Harvest Hope provided food to 2,522,330 individuals, an increase of 24% over the previous year. Harvest Hope currently feeds an average of 49,000 people a week as we strive to reduce the number of empty plates in our communities.

During the three days before Thanksgiving, Harvest Hope served over 2,100 families at our Emergency Food Pantries in the Midlands. That’s approximately 6,500 individuals.

I know when faced with numbers like these it’s almost impossible to think about what we as individuals can do to overcome hunger in our community. But even though we see the large numbers every day and every week, at Harvest Hope we experience those numbers one family at a time. If 600 families come through our Emergency Food Pantry on a given day, then we hear 600 individual stories of family hardship. We see 600 opportunities to make a difference in the lives of a family by putting food on their table. And we do make a difference, one family at a time.

Everyone can help us make a difference for struggling families, one family at a time. For just $50 per family, we can make sure they have enough food to last throughout the holidays. Compare that to how much money most of us spend on food at this time. The average family spends upwards of $150 on the Thanksgiving or Christmas meal alone. So think about the value of feeding an entire family throughout the entire holiday season for just $50. Help us give the Hope of food when they need us the most.

At this time of year, we are fortunate and blessed that many offices or businesses think about our hungry neighbors and find a way to help by using funds usually used for the office holiday party to donate to Harvest Hope. It is a way to spread the joy of giving throughout your workplace and getting everyone to share in contributing to the community. If your office is planning a holiday party, please think about how beneficial it would be to dedicate a donation to put food on the tables of hungry families. Harvest Hope uses 98¢of every dollar donated to feed the hungry, and every dollar buys up to seven pounds of food. Think how far a donation from your business will go toward bringing food to those who need a little help right now.

During the holiday season, Harvest Hope offers donation options to note the festivities and honor or treasure memories of loved ones, friends, colleagues, neighbors or other community acquaintances through our memorial or honorarium giving programs. These programs allow donors to contribute in honor of or on behalf of others to recognize their place in the community or preserve their memory.

We make donating as easy and as affordable as possible. Just go to our website at www.harvesthope.org and click on “Donate Now” to see the options we provide for giving.

Help us make sure that all children in our communities look on this season with hope and excitement rather than the fear of hunger. Help us get them through the fourteen days of hunger.

Thank you for your blessings and heart-felt generosity,

Denise Holland

2011-11-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

A Miracle of Service

Miracles can reveal themselves to us in the smallest of acts. I have never had doubts about the works of God and His ability to hear our prayers and move to answer us in His own way. So when I heard the following story on WMHK FM it only strengthened my faith in the existence of miracles. I am remembering the details of the story, so please forgive me if portions are paraphrased from the original inspiring story. I am so thankful to the mother who called in to uplift others with this personal story as well as WMHK FM for allowing her the opportunity to do so.

A woman called in to the radio station to tell a story about her grandmother, who years ago faced hardship as a single mother with several children. She had no money and had run out of food in the house, and became deeply depressed after putting her children to bed hungry with no idea how to feed them the next day. She got down on her knees and prayed. Through her tears, she first thanked the Lord for His graciousness and acts of good to others, then began to pour her heart out about her situation and how she and her children had nothing to eat. She prayed for specific grocery items she knew she could stretch out and make last as long as possible to feed her family. She, in effect, gave the Lord her shopping list.

The next morning as she was getting her children dressed and ready for school, wishing with all her heart she could provide them breakfast, she was surprised by a knock at the door. The person outside her door was a stranger to her. They did not know each other at all. The stranger said the Lord “laid it upon my heart to go and provide for someone in need, and directed me to come to you specifically with these groceries.” The woman was shocked to find that everything she prayed for the night before, all the items she knew she needed to provide for her children, were in the gift brought by this stranger.

I was moved and touched by this story for many reasons. I was struck by the faith, earnestness and complete honesty of that mother, talking to the Lord as if He were right there with her, listening to her and holding her hands. I believe God always knows already what our needs are, and just wants us to be direct and communicate our wishes and needs to Him.

I was also touched by the testimony of the stranger who came to her door. This person responded without question to the urgings laid on their heart by God and acted without hesitation to fulfill the inspiration and provide exactly what was needed. All for someone they did not know.

As we enter the Thanksgiving season, we are already seeing long lines of families in need at our doorstep. Mothers and fathers who tell us with tears in their eyes they do not know what they would do if we were not there from time to time to help them. We are already seeing hundreds of families, who like that woman years ago, do not know where their next meal will come from and worry about their immediate future. As a charitable organization, we need faithful servants like the man who did not question and answered God’s call. We can make it easy for those who choose to be faithful servants and help with our mission.

You do not have to leave your home to go to the store or go shopping. You don’t have to fill grocery bags. You can visit our website and provide a monetary donation of $20, $50, or $100 that will greatly assist Harvest Hope in meeting the community’s hunger needs this Thanksgiving. Harvest Hope dedicates 98¢ out of every dollar donated to feeding the hungry in our community. Please click here and see the easy ways to help us help those in need of food.

The Bible reminds us, “It gives us joy to give”. Will you be that faithful servant to help us right now in this easy way? I am on my knees, being thankful for you and at the same time, asking the Lord to help us in this way.

Wishing you and your family the best of all Thanksgiving blessings as you share time together,

Denise Holland
CEO – Harvest Hope Food Bank

2011-10-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Henry Edwards Manning, the 19th Century Westminster Archbishop wrote, “Gratitude consists in a watchful, minute attention to the particulars of our state and to the multitude of God’s gifts, taken one by one. It fills us with a conscientiousness that God loves and cares for us, even to the least event and smallest need of life.”

This quote reminds me so much of our volunteers and the financial and food donors who show great care and concern for our mission by their thoughtful generosity. When I consider their acts of generosity one by one I am quickly overwhelmed by such thanksgiving. I am moved by how great all of the supporters are to Harvest Hope Food Bank. These gifts fill me with a conscientiousness that God does love and care for all of us.

A recently published US Census study shows SC has a population of over 4.5 million people, 18% of them living below the poverty line. This equates to 1 in 5 adults experiencing financial hardship putting them at great risk for hunger.

When a person is hungry that is all they can think about. All of life’s other problems are entirely too much and can’t be dealt with when one is hungry. I see the faces outside my office window daily. Over the last four years we have continued the highest distribution of food than ever in our 30 year history. We are blessed with more donors than ever before, but the donations are between 50-70% less than what we have seen in years past.

Harvest Hope’s outreach embraces a diverse selection of feeding initiatives that provide essential nutrition to the hungry through church-led food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters as well as our own children’s hunger programs, senior programs, mobile food pantries and our own Emergency Food Pantries. Some of those coming to our pantries have no feeding options in their own communities and are force to travel to our Shop Road or Cayce facility from such distant areas as Williamsburg, Charlotte, Augusta, Dillon or Marion. Can you imagine traveling these distances to find a friendly face who will show care and concern and will provide food when there is simply no place else to go?

I am so thankful for each and every person who helps to make our mission possible through their humanitarian presence as a volunteer, a food donor, or a financial donor. This Thanksgiving as you and your family plan your special time together, can you help us assure that hungry families standing in line waiting patiently and hopefully for anything we can provide for them do not leave with empty hands? You can honor a family member with a card showing that because their love made your holidays special in the past, you want to preserve your fond memories of that by helping another family with a gift to fight hunger. We make giving easy by visiting our website at www.harvesthope.org. You can participate in a virtual food drive, make a donation, engage your company in HOPE floats with “I HOPE” cards or make an announcement during a holiday event for everyone to text message a donation. Will you help us?

2011-08-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

Many think of Harvest Hope solely as a food pantry, a door step where the hungry come to directly ask for and receive the Hope of food. But direct service through our emergency food pantries only measures a small portion of the food we distribute across 20 counties in South Carolina. The majority of the food we provide reaches hungry families and individuals through the efforts of our agency partners.

Harvest Hope is the life line for over 450 agency partners who share with us a dedication to meet the hunger needs of those struggling under economic uncertainty. Without us, many of them would be forced to shut their doors. We provide critical support for many organizations dedicated to feeding the hungry. Some of our agency partners have told us they could not survive without us.

Who are these agencies who work hand-in-hand with us to meet the needs of those who struggle with hunger daily? Many are faith-based: churches or faith organizations that include as part of their mission hunger outreach services. Other agency partners include children’s homes, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior centers, women’s shelters, and other service outreach providers.

Over the years Harvest Hope has grown and identified that the best way to meet the needs of the increasing numbers of hungry people is to provide quality food to these agencies while serving as a role model for others to follow. Through our shared maintenance partnership, they receive a variety of food from us for 19¢ a pound or less. Fresh produce, dairy, baked goods or other perishable food items are provided at no cost. For charities such as soup kitchens, food pantries, family shelters, missions or other organizations that provide a variety of services to at-risk populations, this means they have more funds available for all the different facets of their operations.

Our agency partners benefit from relying on Harvest Hope as a one-stop location where they can purchase all of the quality food they need for their operations at enormous savings. They tell us they could not survive without the blessing of our shared maintenance assistance and would have to close their doors, cutting off food for many who suffer from hunger in small and rural SC communities. To learn more about how we work with agencies to feed hungry families across South Carolina please visit our website here: http://www.harvesthope.org/agencyzone.aspx.

Help us make sure we remain the reliable partner for organizations that depend on us to provide food to the hungry across 20 counties.

Thank you for your blessings,

Denise Holland

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~ Winston Churchill

Our prayers for others flow more easily than those for ourselves. This shows we are made to live by charity. ~ C.S.Lewis

2011-06-15T06:54:00.001-07:00

Sometimes thirty seconds can show us a lot. If we open our minds and allow ourselves to see a different perspective for just a half a minute, sometimes we can understand another point of view or relate to another person’s struggles in ways we could not predict.

Everyone is affected by the increased cost of doing business and the increased cost of living. Increased expenses lessen our ability or willingness to give to others. I truly understand that. But this is something I want everyone to think about: it’s what I call the thirty second exercise. Think about a time when you’ve been forced to skip a meal. You’re running late for work so you don’t take time for breakfast. But you know it’s not devastating because you can make it up at lunch. Or you have a busier than normal day at work and just work right through lunch. You know you’ll make it up at supper. We’ve all been there from time to time, right?

Now 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 the 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.

It’s hard for us to imagine hunger and food insecurity for even thirty seconds, but the reality for so many who struggle in our community is they live with constant hunger and doubt all the time. We can close our eyes and TRY to imagine what their fear must be like, but they in turn cannot just close their eyes and wish it away. They fear there will be no food on the table at each meal and wishing will not change that.

School is out across South Carolina, and financially strapped parents face the challenge of providing an additional two meals a day for their school-age children. Many are now forced to turn to us for a little additional help in providing food for their families. This creates a paradigm of need wherein struggling families find it more difficult to put food on the table and have to come to us, but the same economic forces that created their dire situation in turn increases our expenses and impacts our ability to meet their needs.

Even before school let out we began to see an increase in the number of families coming to us. In May at our Emergency Food Pantries (EFP) on Shop Road and 12th Street in Cayce we served 5,739 families throughout the month, or 287 families a day. This was a 26% increase over the number of families we served in May last year. Over 12% of those coming in to the EFP’s reported they needed our assistance for the first time, and 52% reported that unemployment was the reason they were forced to come to us. If we project a similar increase throughout the summer once schools let out, then a 26% increase over last year will bring over 7,000 families per month to our doors. And that’s just in Columbia. We also provide for the struggling families in the Pee Dee and the Greenville/Laurens communities, plus more than 400 member agencies in our 20 county area-they are also experiencing increases in demand.

So how can Harvest Hope, caught up as we are in the cycle of the “paradigm of need”, hope to find the resources to meet the needs of so many families across South Carolina? We cannot hope to do it without the support of so many in the community.

Two generous families, the Mungos and the Cassels, have already helped by posting matching campaigns that kicked in $300,000 when private donors did their part. We have seen that people are more than willing to give when they know their contributions will be matched. We would love to find at least two more partners in the business community to follow the examples set by the Mungos and the Cassels and declare their own matching campaigns.

The spirit of philanthropy is infectious and inspires people to acts of generosity when they see their neighbors are moved to action. Help us create a new “paradigm of charitable acts,” and inspire the communities of South Carolina to recognize the suffering of hungry families and move to ensure they have food to put on their tables this summer.

With Blessings and Hope,
Denise Holland

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” ~ Mother Theresa

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~ Edward Everett Hale

2011-05-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

With the school year just about over our thoughts naturally turn to the upcoming summer months. We like to think of the summer as an idyllic time of year full of rest, relaxation and vacations, and as a time of relaxed schedules when instead of getting the kids out of bed for school we get them out of the house for fun things to do.

What summer means for many parents and families in our community is another thing altogether, and not that kind of idyllic time away from school. It is certainly not the care-free and lazy summer days of decades past. Not for many.

As the school year closes and we think about final report cards, make-up days, saying goodbye to teachers and the growing anticipation of the weeks to come, we need to take stock of several things to count as blessings. We should count as blessings the kind and considerate teachers, principals, guidance counselors and other administrative and support school staff who have guided our children through the preceding months of learning and helped the families of children beyond the call of duty.

When Harvest Hope repeats that one out of every four children under the age of five in South Carolina goes to bed hungry every night, it is not just an alarming statistic for teachers but a real nightmare they witness every school day. Educators know not just metaphorically but in real quantifiable terms that when a child is hungry they cannot learn. Hunger affects their ability to focus or pay attention and dampens or destroys their child-like curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. Hunger affects their ability to work and their desire to attend class. Hunger has a real and measurable effect on learning and on a child’s health. Teachers in our state see this every day.

At Harvest Hope, because we are so involved with children’s feeding programs administered through and in coordination with schools, we hear of teachers who see the effects of hunger in their classrooms and reach into their pockets to make sure they have bags of apples or oranges or have other types of nutritious snacks to provide for children. Most teachers can easily spot the children in their classes who are hungry. They know the real harm of hunger and see the effects on those sitting at desks in front of them. That is why there are teachers who use their own money to try and bolster the nutrition of at-risk children in their classes.

Just as there are many cafeteria workers who do what they can to give extra food items out of their own pocket to children so they will not have to go home and face the despair of nothing to eat until they return the next day. There are guidance counselors who keep on hand snacks or nutritious items to provide to some children who come to them with issues and behavior problems, because they know those problems can be hunger related.

The summer months for Harvest Hope are the hardest months. During the ten or so weeks that children are out of school, their parents must find a way to replace the meals provided through in-school free and reduced breakfast and lunch programs. For many families suffering economic hardship, they have no choice but to turn to Harvest Hope or one of our partnering agencies to replace the meals they will not see again until late August or September.

We would like to offer two suggestions how everyone can support our mission to feed the hungry children during the summer. A $30 donation to support our Back Pack program provides nutrition for children to last through the weekends. That $30 is equal to seven meals per weekend each month.

The other suggestion is to honor those teachers who have been so kind and instructive to your children by donating an Honorarium gift in their name to Harvest Hope. We have designed a special new Honorarium specifically to honor teachers. When you donate one of these Honorariums a card will be sent to the teacher letting them know that their kindness and enlightenment will result in the gift of food for a child in need. Honorariums through Harvest Hope are easy: if you send us a donation just enclose a note with the specifics of who you wish to honor and where you want the card sent, or provide the same information if you donate on-line through www.harvesthope.org.

Thank you so much for the many ways you help us to feed hungry children and show kindness to someone who helps children.

God Bless You,

Denise Holland

2011-04-20T07:18:00.001-07:00

On a recent morning my devotion started with these wonderful words...

"This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118; verse 24

I do rejoice in this day! For Harvest Hope Food Bank and the many people who depend on us everyday, I rejoice for the heartfelt generosity of two local business leaders who have family-owned companies and who truly know the joy and blessing that can only come from providing for others who are, at this current time, in need of a little assistance. The Mungo and the Cassels families and their collective group of employees, clients, and supporters have shown their compassion and humanitarian spirits by pledging large donations with the consideration that others open their hearts to give as well. It is through their work that the Lord blesses the food bank so we can help those who need us so desperately.

Just as the Mungo family through Mungo Homes did in March, Southeastern Freight Lines will be matching a gift of $150,000 if others in the community donate a total of $300,000 to Harvest Hope. This is a huge blessing! You are a part of this and your participation is as critical as the very nature of hunger.

We are taught in God's word that we are to be thankful for facing difficult times. Times when in our human frailty we have the tendency to feel like no one cares, no one will help and no one will rescue us or others in need. This is just the same as a family will feel when going to their kitchen cabinets to find very little or nothing there. We are assured through God's teachings that when we open ourselves to be thankful in all things He will use that situation to show His blessings. We are reminded to not fear, but to have faith and trust in Him. He knows what our needs are and will meet our needs according to His will.

This is a strong message that must be shared. Harvest Hope Food Bank came to you one month ago with a plea to help us raise $2 million dollars to assure a continuation of service to those in need. With the success of the Mungo match, completed in just over three weeks, we rejoice that we have achieved 25% of our goal. Now with the new Southeastern Freight Lines offer, if we can raise another $300,000, their gift of $150,000 will be a reality and we will then have achieved 50% of our overarching goal. I am thankful for the difficulties we have faced stemming from the need for service delivery and for the critical situation it has caused for us. Because it is through these difficult circumstances we see the wonderful involvement of sharing not only the stories of hunger, but the courage of those who help meet the demand. That courage includes you!

I have so much respect for the grace and spirit of these two outstanding SC companies for their recognition and support of the work Harvest Hope does everyday in 20 counties to meet hunger needs. I also thank you, our loyal donors for the same earnest conviction that proves you too support our daily work to help assure that no child, no family, no senior citizen should worry and not go without the vital nourishment our food provides.

I ask you, beg you, and prevail upon you with all of my heart, to again help us reach this match. School will be out for summer very soon. Many families facing difficult economic circumstances benefit from the free or reduced-price breakfast and lunches their children receive at school. It continues to be a worrisome truth that every day school is out families are forced to come to one of our member agencies or a mobile food pantry, or to one of our own Emergency Food Pantries. Lines outside any of these locations continue to be long and their frustration is palatable when stomachs grumble. As summer grows closer each day, rather than the relaxation many dream of, the hunger worry grows stronger and becomes a nightmare. We must continue our push to get ready to feed them.

There are many ways to participate in the Southeastern Freight Line match. Certainly a donation to help us get closer to our goal is essential. But even more important is to ask your conviction to tell others of why you support Harvest Hope as your personal passion. Your courage to speak up for hunger is definitely the reason someone else will follow your shining example. Just as we have great leaders like the Mungos and the Cassels from Southeastern Freightlines, you too are a leader. You are a leader that provides the real example that you are not going to stand as long as there is one hungry person in our midst. You are a leader because you feel strongly that by working together we can meet the dire critical emergency need of hunger. Someone watching you right now is looking for a reason to get involved to help others and will feel compelled by your example to do the same.

At www.harvesthope.org, there are details on how to give online or how to have a virtual food drive. We recommend setting up a competition between offices, departments, neighborhoods, other organized teams or civic clubs to see who can organize the food drive with the biggest results. As you stop at a Corner Pantry in Calhoun, Orangeburg, Lexington, Richland, Clarendon, Kershaw or Florence counties or if you are in Blythewood at a Blythewood Oil station, buy an "I HOPE" card for $1. Write on the card anything you hope for, and while doing so you are Helping Our People Eat for Harvest Hope Food Bank.

We so very badly need your help. With a financial donation and your word to pass the need along to others or most definitely your praises for the great people who have the courage to step forward as we press toward our 2 million goal. Please know I also personally ask for your prayers as we strive forward.

Lastly, please do not think that you are not needed. You are always needed. With every gift, whether a financial donation, time to volunteer, or other idea to share we come closer to our goal to feed the hungry people are depending on all of us. You are the best ambassadors for Harvest Hope!

From all of us, we so very thankful! You are counted among the blessings just as Mungo Homes and Southeastern Freightlines. Let's rejoice this day and press forward to the goal!

2011-03-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of March Harvest Hope took the unprecedented step of announcing we were facing a fiscal crisis and were launching a funding drive to help raise cash to pay off recent debt and shore up finances to prepare for the coming need. We announced through the media we needed to raise $2 million between now and the end of June, and as much of it as possible as soon as possible.

For more than four years now, the increase in need for our mission work of providing food to the hungry has not abated. From 2008 to 2010 we saw a 91% increase in our service to hungry families.

In the last six months, the number of families we have fed has increased by 42 percent over the same period a year earlier.

Our resources are stretched thin across the 20 counties we serve. Just operating our fleet of vehicles that deliver food throughout our region costs us $3,100 a day. Harvest Hope depends on its fleet of trucks to pick up and deliver food throughout our 20 county service area, and so this is an expense we have to afford, no matter how much gas increases.

Yet we are suffering from a steady decline in donations, especially the corporate and large gift donations that do so much to help with our operating costs. Now due to the steady increase in demand, the rise in operational costs and the decline in large donations we find ourselves in an economic crisis.

The $2 million goal is not an arbitrary figure pulled out of thin air, but a number arising from a combination of factors to include the accelerating increase in need, the rise in unavoidable expenses, the continuing decline in cash contributions and projections based on what we know will be an increase in need to feed hungry children during the summer of 2011.

These factors caused us to take a hard look at the reality of our operation and situation and to make the difficult decision to let the community know what we are facing. It was not an easy decision to make. And while we are still far from achieving the $2 million goal we set to help lift us out of our current economic crisis and prepare for the immediate future, I am happy to report that the initial reaction has been supportive and I have tentative hopes the community will continue to open their hearts and give to help us reach our goal.

We were helped by a generous matching campaign made by the Mungo Company, a long-time contributor and friend to Harvest Hope. They agreed to provide $150,000 if the community donates to a level that doubles that amount. I am pleased to announce we are close to achieving that amount. I want to thank everyone who responded to our cries for donations to help us make it this far. But there is a long way to go.

For the communities we serve, Harvest Hope is the institution that is too big to fail. We are the food safety net for almost half the state. Our 476 member agencies that feed the hungry in their communities – churches, private charities, others – depend on Harvest Hope too much. For 30 years we have worked with these organizations around the state to identify pockets of poverty and directly provide food to individuals and families in need. We cannot fail and we will not fail. Too many in our state depend on us.

We are NOT failing. We are not going away. We are getting the job done, despite the challenges before us. But for the first time, we have gone into a financial hole doing so, and we need your help to get out of it, and continue the mission.

The easiest way to help is to visit our website at www.harvesthope.org and click on the Donation button. You’ll go right to a convenient donation screen.

We have never asked for help of this nature before. Honestly, I never thought we would have to. But over the last few months we have accepted the inevitability of this. We need your help to reach our $2 million goal. It is not an impossible goal. Many are already responding. Help us make sure we can continue providing the safety net that so many need.

God Bless You for Your Compassion,

Denise Holland

One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. - Proverbs 11:24-25

A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. - Proverbs 22:9

2011-02-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

I want you to think for a minute about the senior citizens that you know or have known in your life and especially those who have made an impact on your life. Most of us have known at least one senior during the course of our lives who we think of with great fondness. Think about a favorite grandparent, aunt or uncle, friend of the family, church member or even co-worker who we have come to regard with admiration and affection.

Now think about that person going hungry. Think about that person consumed with worry about how to make ends meet on a fixed income and wondering where they will find the money to buy the groceries they need after paying all their other bills. Think of their desperation as they are forced to choose between paying for the medicine they need or buying food for their table, both of which they need to survive. And let’s not get started on the rent or mortgage.

According to the US Census Bureau, South Carolina is second in the nation for senior citizens who suffer from food insecurity, with 10% of its elderly population living in a constant state of anxiety over how to put food on their tables. These are individuals who do not have access to healthy and nutritious food sources due to limited income, and/or inadequate transportation. Since subsisting without consistent nourishing food increases many health risks such as malnutrition, diabetes or hypertension they become locked in a vicious cycle where their health concerns are perpetuated and their health costs continue to spiral, which impacts their ability to buy the food they need to stay healthy.

The issue of seniors living in poverty and hunger is one we rarely see or hear much about in our country, but a recent episode of the new NBC show Harry’s Law choose to dramatically illustrate their plight with the story of an 87-year-old woman forced to commit armed robbery because she did not have the money to buy food. During the trial both the prosecuting attorney and the title character, lawyer Harriet “Harry” Korn who defended the accused senior, used current hunger and poverty statistics such as 25 million Americans are hungry everyday and 45 million live in poverty. In her summary defense, Harry talks about the shame of hunger and the desperation that seniors must feel after working their whole lives only to discover they cannot pay for their housing, medicine and food. She states in anger: “We live in the richest nation in the world yet one in seven Americans live in poverty.” I am grateful to the producers and writers of this show for dedicating an episode to an issue usually avoided in mainstream media.

We see the faces and hear the stories from hungry seniors when we provide senior boxes on the second Thursday of every month at our Emergency Food Pantry through our Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which is grant funded through the SC Department of Social Services. Pre-qualified seniors receive a box of food each month to help meet their nutritional needs. Last year, Harvest Hope provided 28,758 food boxes to qualified senior citizens in Fairfield, Greenville, Kershaw, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland and Sumter counties.

Totes of Love is a new feeding program designed to meet the needs of low-income Senior citizens in the Pee Dee area. It is a grant funded program working to improve the health of 25 low-income seniors by supplementing their diets with nutritious foods and providing nutrition education. Harvest Hope Food Bank supplies the participating Chesterfield County site with food and tote bags each month. The on-site coordinator sends home a food-filled tote bi-weekly to qualifying applicants who are at least 60 years of age and older who live in Chesterfield County, and whose income is at 130% of the poverty levels for the state. There is no cost to the participants, but the tote must be returned prior to the delivery day in order to be refilled.

Please take a moment to reflect on the suffering of our elderly neighbors who are caught in the cycle of economic hardship, hunger and anxiety. Think about the seniors that are closest to you and have contributed so much to your well being. It is difficult to imagine our own grandparents or even parents suffering and worrying about the money for their next meal. Remember that this is the reality for 10% of senior citizens in our state. Please help us continue our efforts to lessen the pain of hunger for the elderly in our community and designate a gift for our senior feeding programs. We can provide 250 meals for a senior citizen for less than $40, or 1,000 meals for a senior for less than $150. Give us a call at (803) 254-4432 or visit www.harvesthope.org to easily make a donation.

I know it is in your hearts to help those who have made a lifetime of providing love and encouragement to others. Thank you for your compassion.

With Warmest Regards and Thanks,

Denise Holland

“Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. -Leviticus 19:32

“The silver-haired head is a crown of glory.” - Proverbs 16:31

2011-01-04T11:48:00.000-08:00

With the winter months upon us, this tends to be a season where all household bills seem higher than at other times of the year. In our 2010 Hunger Study, we can easily see how a number of problems this time of year impact people who are already meeting tough times. Fifty-five percent of people interviewed report they have to make difficult decisions about paying rent or utilities or paying for food. Forty percent have to make difficult decisions about paying for medical expenses or paying for food.

Both of these choices add a higher impact on those who live on the edge financially, particularly during this time of the year. And while there are many organizations that help people with these particular problems, these issues directly impact the population we seek to provide food for with a heavy burden.

The Food Research and Action Center released a study less than one month ago that shows South Carolina is second in the nation for families living in food hardship, which is defined as not having enough money to buy the food they need for themselves. Over the last year 24% of South Carolinian's reported they could not afford adequate food for their families. According to the US Census Report, South Carolina has a population of 4,625,384, which means that 1,110,092 people in our state cannot adequately or dependably provide food for themselves or feed their families. That’s right, over one million people live in a constant state of hunger and uncertainty.

We hear the stories everyday of people who either exist in a continued state of economic crisis, or discover how fragile their circumstances are when they are suddenly confronted with an unexpected financial burden. In December a woman in her forties came to us in distress due to a series of sudden unforeseen economic hardships. This mother of three, who works full-time as a flooring contractor, usually manages to provide for her family, pay her bills and maintain the upkeep on her small home in Gaston. Prior to December, she had come to us for food just twice over the last year, with each visit months apart. She had all of her monthly expenses covered and had even put a way a little extra money to afford a modest Christmas for her children. And then in the space of less than three weeks both of the family vehicles, one of which she depends on to haul materials as part of her contracting job, broke down and she found herself facing over $2,000 in repair bills. She could scrape together enough to repair the vehicles, but the cold weather had caused her utility bill to rise and she need over $400 to prevent her power being turned off. We helped her with food to last through the end of the month, and through an act of providence a generous donor heard about her circumstances and stepped up to pay her utility bill. The beginning of the year has brought an increase in contractor jobs and she is getting back on her feet again to earn the level of self-sufficiency that she works so hard to achieve.

As inspiring as her story is, there are many who are not so fortunate and whose stories are more tragic. With South Carolina’s unemployment at the seventh highest level in the nation, there are many who continue to look but cannot find work. They come to us for food. There are many who are willing to take any job that comes along, even if the hard work does not adequately maintain any semblance of a standard of living. They come to us for food. There are many seniors who face high medical expenses in addition to all the other expenses of this time of year and find they have to cut corners and sacrifice buying groceries. They come to us for food.

I would like to ask for everyone who finds themselves in the fortunate circumstance to consider donating to think about the generosity of the individual who helped the Gaston woman with her power bill. This man, who is already a regular contributor to Harvest Hope, discovered and benefited from the joy and warmth of giving, and knowing his gift meant a family did not have to go without power in the cold. If you find you have the means, open your heart do what you can to help us provide for those who find themselves on the wrong side of unfortunate and unforeseen financial hardships. Visit our online gift catalog at https://harvesthope.feeding-hope.org/ or our donation page at http://www.harvesthope.org/donatenow.aspx and see how easy and rewarding it is to help out your struggling neighbors.

Best Wishes and Deepest Appreciation,

Denise Holland

2010-12-22T09:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends of Harvest Hope Food Bank,

In the spirit of the season, I certainly wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for the many blessings you have shared with Harvest Hope Food Bank to assure that we have much needed resources to distribute food to those who are worried where their next meal will come from. After our last email to you, we have had many responses to our requests for honorariums and memorials to let loved ones know they are thought of fondly and a gift has been made to help fight hunger-what I passionately feel is a critical need. We thank you so very much!

Harvest Hope Food Bank relies greatly on the generosity and donations of so many to continue our mission of caring for hungry families across 20 counties of our state. Especially as we close out 2010, resources collected now must help us continue into 2011.

In this continued worried state of the economy, increases in service delivery are very high-more than 111% more families are coming to us than in 2009. With this increased service delivery, naturally it costs more in operation funds to move food to those who need it.

Sadly, since Thanksgiving we have seen a 13% reduction in the usual flow of donations we come to count on at this busy time of year. I must share that the reduction is significant and impacts our service delivery to make sure we are getting enough food to those in need. True to the economic conditions, the average gift per donor is about half of what it was last year. This is certainly frightening and at the same time I know we have to walk by faith not what we see. We always must trust in the Lord that He will provide.

For many, the holiday season is almost over, but also for many, the hunger need will not go away. Families who face such critical needs will still need our compassion and help long after the holidays and certainly into the dead of winter.

New unemployment numbers came out just last week and they tell us why we are seeing such a strong need for our service. South Carolina is tied with Nevada as the state with the seventh highest percentage of unemployed. The unemployment rate across Harvest Hope’s 20 counties is 12.6%, which is a full two points higher than the state average and three points higher than the national average. Sixteen per cent of South Carolina’s population live below the poverty level, and that’s almost half a million people. Hunger is a new and unfamiliar factor for so many in South Carolina. Harvest Hope lives with purpose to bring food to all hungry people and certainly this is not an individual effort but a collective one that includes YOU. Your gifts, your time, your prayer and your support tell others what we do. You are significant to this fight and to the dream to make sure that no one goes hungry.

Being a collective ambassador in this fight is crucial. Yes, financial gifts will and are always needed, volunteers are needed, as well as in kind gifts that might be not needed by everyone but could be possibly be used by someone else. Telling others about what Harvest Hope does and scheduling a powerful mission-telling HOPE tour really helps to get people’s attention about this work. You our donor, our volunteer, our supporter are the best message deliverer to invite others who respect what you support to take a tour. Please take a moment to look at our website and see there are multiple ways to help through our gift catalog, honorariums, memorials, year end gifts, food drives and volunteering.

As always, we are very grateful for your support and interest in the ongoing mission of Harvest Hope Food Bank. We know this is a tough economic time and many difficulties are brought on as the past three years have shown. However, as written in 2nd Corinthians 9:9: “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” And to share the joy and peace of the season, we can know that through our collective work, we have “filled the hungry with good things.” Luke 1:53.

Best Wishes and Warmest Blessings of the Season to you and to your families,

Denise Holland

To make a online donation click here.

2010-10-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

In late September the US Census Bureau released information on American poverty levels prepared from the data collected for the 2010 census, including the latest findings on poverty in America. The data shows that South Carolina’s population has 11.20% living below the poverty level, compared to a national average of 9.6%. Richland County’s poverty rate is exactly the same as the national average, but some counties like Darlington (22.3%) and Marion (23%) are over twice the national level.

For me the most startling numbers tell us how many children in South Carolina are living below the poverty level. Almost 30% of children ages five or younger in our state live below the poverty level. Almost 22% of children ages five through seventeen in our state live below the poverty level. Every night in South Carolina, one out of every four children under the age of five goes to bed hungry.

For too many children in our state, the meals they are served during the school day are the most dependable and most nutritious they receive. They count on the breakfasts and lunches they sit down to eat in their school cafeterias. They look forward to going to school because they know they will get the food their parents are often find difficulty in providing. And equally, they worry what they will have to eat when they go home, and if they will go hungry over the weekend. To help meet their needs and ease their fears, Harvest Hope provides supplementary nutrition and meals to hungry children with three different programs: Kids Cafe, Backpack and Snack Sack programs.

These are after-school charitable meal programs for children ages six to eighteen who have been identified as being at risk of hunger. These programs provide meals to low-income children through a variety of community locations where children can safely congregate—such as Boys and Girls Clubs, churches, community centers and public schools. At our Kids Cafe locations, Harvest Hope delivers food to community partners who prepare hot meals and serve the children. The kids get more than just meals at these sites. It’s a nurturing and structured environment where they can participate in safe educational, recreational and social activities such as homework assistance, tutoring, and arts and crafts projects.

Kid’s Cafe sites operate after-school and so are closed over the weekend. To make sure that kids get a nutritional boost between Friday afternoon and the next Monday morning, Harvest Hope is fortunate to have many valuable partners across our 20 county service area. These community partners, many of whom are churches, coordinate with schools and assist in our 28 Backpack and fifteen Snack Sack sites to provide easy-to-prepare, kid-friendly meals that children take home on Fridays to supplement their nutritional needs through the weekend. In the past, Harvest Hope provided just schools in our service area with kid-friendly food and empty backpacks or snacksacks which the schools would then fill. Guidance counselors and teachers identify at-risk kids and discretely ensure they get their designated food to take home, and then collect the Backpacks when they return on Monday.

Just recently, Harvest Hope has been fortunate to find partnerships with a number of committed churches who are dedicated to helping us in our mission to feed hungry school children. Our pantry trucks deliver food on a monthly basis to these churches, who then use members of their congregations to fill Backpacks with the food and then deliver them on Thursdays or Fridays to our partnering schools, picking up the empty backpacks on the following Monday.

We are grateful for these local churches, some in rural, hard-to-reach areas, who have come to us and showed their commitment to helping get food to children in need. We want to expand these partnerships, and find more church partners who will include Harvest Hope’s Backpack program as part of their congregation’s mission work. If you think your congregation would like to find out more about working with us to reduce the number of children going to bed hungry every night, then call Erica Cheeks at (803) 254-4432 extension 1102 and let her tell you how we can work together.

If you would like to help us feed hungry children in South Carolina and ensure brighter tomorrows for so many of our young, would you consider making a donation right now through our website to help Harvest Hope continue providing these critical services? Just click here to visit our convenient Donations page: http://www.harvesthope.org/donatenow.aspx

Together we can continue to make a difference in the lives of children and help them grow to become the future stewards of grace, kindness and compassion.

Thank you,

Denise Holland

CEO, Harvest Hope Food Bank

Children are one third of our population and all of our future. ~Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. ~Frederick Douglass

2010-07-23T09:57:00.001-07:00

Hunger is a reality that many of us do not realize exists in our daily or normal travels. Often, just outside of the neighborhoods and streets where we are accustomed to traveling there are large numbers of people who exist in a continuing state of crisis. Their personal crises are brought on by long-term unemployment, unmanageable housing and utility costs, fixed incomes that do not come close to covering all their expenses, health costs and other overwhelming factors.

If we take ourselves just a little off of our regular daily paths we can find those around us who live in that constant state of need and hunger. Maybe in your own neighborhood there are homes with “for sale” signs that have sat empty for many months, and there are some neighborhoods where it seems there are more empty homes than ones with families. If we go a little further out of our way to drive through rural areas in our state then we can see even greater signs of crises and need. There are many more houses empty and for sale and many more people who are not making it. Life presents additional challenges for those suffering from financial difficulties in South Carolina’s rural areas. Transportation is an enormous challenge and many do not have the means to take themselves or family members to the places where they can get help.

Convenient transportation is something most of us take for granted. We may complain about high gas prices and find ways to cut back on travel, but in the end if we feel the need or desire to go somewhere then we get in our cars and go. But many in our rural areas face a different reality. For them travelling just five or so miles can be a problem. For the few who own reliable cars high gas prices become a pivotal point in determining their access to meals.

To meet the needs of those in rural areas Harvest Hope works with over 400 agency partners throughout our 20 county service area. Many of these agencies take the food they pick up from us out to these impacted rural communities and provide soup kitchens or boxed meal sites at churches and other community centers. The majority of Harvest Hope’s food is actually distributed to the needy by our agency partners at these sites. Most of these agency partners are operated by faith-based organizations committed to helping their hungry neighbors.

There are direct and indirect benefits from our association with agency partners. The obvious direct effect is providing food to those who need it where they need it. The agencies operate in areas where poverty can easily be identified. Poverty is not hidden or out of the way like it is for many of us. It is present and all around them, and their compassion and devotion compels them to help where help is needed. These agencies provide food at feeding sites often run by volunteers and dedicated staffers who are in touch with the community and see the faces of hunger on a regular basis.

The indirect benefits for these faith-based organizations come from the opportunities to build relationships throughout the community and establish bonds of faith and trust with those in deepest need. These agencies help their suffering neighbors overcome some of the difficulties they face and put much-needed food on their tables.

But our agencies cannot be everywhere where there is need. Harvest Hope operates Mobile Food Pantries (MFP) to area not serviced by agencies or other feeding programs. The mission of our MFPs is to reach out to those with severe transportation limitations and take emergency food to them. Like the agency sites, our MFP delivery truck delivers food at designated churches or community centers and distributes the food with the help of area volunteers. Also, at this time of year our MFPs deliver quality, locally-grown fruits and vegetables through produce drops. Harvest Hope coordinates drops of locally-grown fresh produce based on the amount of produce on hand in our warehouse. During the summer the abundance of fresh donated produce allows us to deliver produce to our agencies on a rotating basis based on their individual need and service area.

Sometime this week give yourself enough time to drive off your regular route and allow yourself to see what others are facing everyday. Take some time over the weekend to get out to the rural areas and see the conditions that are a reality for so many. There is a very different world just a little removed from ours, and we may find that it is not so removed from ours.

Thank you and God Bless….

Denise Holland

CEO, Harvest Hope Food Bank

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
~St. Augustine

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. ~Mark Twain

Donate Now

Food for the Fourth

2010-07-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

The summer months are a challenging time for the Harvest Hope Food Bank. We are seeing more families in our 20 county service area facing the extremely difficult question of how to feed their children now that school is out. During the school year at-risk children are served reduced-price or free breakfast and lunches, giving their family’s breathing room of two meals a day per child. But summer is here and those school children are home. With July 4th coming up we’re not even half-way through summer, and that means there are plenty of hungry days ahead for many South Carolina children.

If you are wondering how many children we need to feed in our state, then consider some newly released information from Feeding America. A report released Thursday, July 1 shows ranks South Carolina as #9 in our nation for children at risk of hunger. In total, there are more than 257,000 children in our state who will most likely miss a meal today. And everyday.

In order to meet the incredible need to feed our children we have committed additional resources to feeding families and have depleted our supplies. We continue sending our Mobile Food Pantries into the most rural areas to give access to our neediest neighbor’s - right in their backyard. We continue delivering fresh produce every day to our partner agencies and we have been working to muster additional resources through our staff and volunteers who face this crisis every day as people come to us in critical need.

I am writing this blog today as we begin a long holiday weekend because I want everyone to think of the need. If you can spare a minute out of your busy day before you head into this weekend of celebration, please visit our website at www.harvesthope.org. We could use help gift right now to support a critical need. Your special gift of $5, $10, $20 or more would be a blessing to us as we try to meet the additional summer demand. The need right now is immediate and your immediate response will be valuable to so many. If everyone reading this will give up just the price of a lunch, between $7 to $10, and donate that to Harvest Hope, we can go a long way toward feeding the hungry children in our 20 county service area this Fourth of July and the following week.

By clicking on the “Donate Now” button on our homepage, you will be directed to our website’s convenient donation page. When entering your gift information, place a note in comment section indicating you read this special message and we will know to direct your gift to feeding our children this summer.

As you enjoy your 4th of July festivities…know that there more children will eat because you cared and answered our call…

Thank you and God Bless….

Denise Holland

CEO, Harvest Hope Food Bank

Where liberty dwells, there is my country. ~Benjamin Franklin

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. ~Albert Camus

2010-06-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

For most, the summer months become a time of relaxation and retreat, and a time of family. With children out of school and daylight hours stretching late into the evening families can spend more time together on vacations, weekend getaways, late afternoon excursions and other leisure activities. For many, the summer is a time of relaxation and togetherness.

For many families across South Carolina, however, the summer means an increased challenge in putting food on the table. For many low-income and at-risk children, their staple meals are the reduced-price or free breakfasts and lunches they are served at school. With schools closed for three months, financially hard-pressed parents must now provide two additional meals per child per day. No one wants to see their children go hungry. Imagine going to the kitchen to look for food for your hungry child, but already knowing you are going to find the cupboard and refrigerator empty. Try to imagine the despair you would feel wondering where you will turn to find food for your family, not just for a meal or snack right now, but for the days to come.

Over the last year, one in four children under the age of five in South Carolina went to bed hungry. Now that school is out we know from experience that number is going to increase. At this time of year we see families coming to us to alleviate the despair and hunger they feel when there is no food in their own kitchen. Many of them have not come to us for some time, but their need is urgent now and they know they can count on us. But the summer is often a difficult time for Harvest Hope as well.

The summer is traditionally a slow period for donations to Harvest Hope. With everything going on at this time of year it is easy for people to forget about anything not related to the logistics of vacations, summer camps and other family activities. But summer is one of the peak demand periods of the year for us. And with a downturn in donations, it becomes more difficult for us to meet the needs of the hungry families who make the difficult decision to turn to us. The need increases, yet the donations diminish. We are fortunate that so many people reveal their generosity and give during the holidays. But we cannot ignore the need at this time, or turn away the hungry families coming to us right now. They need us to help them. Just as we need our donors to continue their support and contributions during this difficult period.

Please take the time to go online at www.harvesthope.org and donate what you can. Harvest Hope can dedicate 98¢ out of every dollar donated to feeding the hungry. We can turn $1 into 7 pounds of food for the needy. We can feed a family for a week with $9. With your contributions, we can make sure those who come to us during the summer months will leave with the food they need to provide for everyone, especially the children, who comes to their tables. Donating through our website, especially our Gift Catalog is easy and convenient. Give what you can and we will make it go far.

Last week a radio talk show host discussed the topic of hungry children home for the summer. For some reason, perhaps because in our line of work we associate with so many compassionate and caring people, I anticipated he would urge listeners to open their hearts and donate to help feed their hungry neighbors. But that was not his intention at all. This man suggested that children who need to feed themselves during the summer should go the alleys behind restaurants and eat discarded food found in their trash bins. After hearing this, it took several minutes for the reality of his statements to sink in. I did not want to believe what I had just heard. My mind and heart could not accept the fact that there are really people who could think such a thing, and advocate it over the public airways. Are we really to believe there are people who wish for our children to crawl through garbage and fight rats and insects for their food ? Is this the kind of society we want to live in?

It is difficult to contain my anger and despair at the thought that some people would actually wish for children to hunt for scraps of nourishment among the refuse. I can only pray that this point of view is not common and only held by a marginalized number of people disassociated with the realities of the communities they live in. I can only hope the radio host’s comments were said for shock effect, and intended to elicit response and outrage for the mere sake of response and outrage. I wonder if he even believes the things he says, and hope that the majority of his listeners do not hold with such abhorrent notions of society and humanity.

We are fortunate at Harvest Hope. We see the best of humanity daily. We see and hear from the people who believe it is our responsibility to look after others less fortunate and know it is also the best way to look after ourselves. Our spirits benefit and grow from the love we show toward strangers and the compassion we bestow on people in need. I am fortunate to know there are so many donors who understand and support our outreach to end hunger in South Carolina. Your thoughts and blessings give us all hope to continue to believe in the true loving nature of the human spirit.

With Warmest Thanks,

Denise Holland

A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. ~Proverbs 29:11

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me. ~Proverbs 30:8

A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune's inequality exhibits under this sun. ~Thomas Carlyle

2010-05-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

One of the results of the ongoing economic downturn is there are new faces of hunger in America and here in South Carolina. What do those new faces look like? What brought them to our door? What drives people to make the difficult decision to put down their pride and feelings of self dependence and come to us for help?

At Harvest Hope, every day we have conversations with people who cannot understand the new reality they find themselves in. The cannot understand how they lost control of their lives and why they need help with something as simple and basic as putting food on the table. Feeding our families is something we all take for granted. It is a basic need we all assume that we can fulfill on our own. It is so basic that others often cannot understand what would force someone else to ask for help for food. But is something we understand at Harvest Hope.

Recently, I had a conversation with a young man in his early 20’s, who could not understand why he had just been laid off. It is depressing for him because he really loved what he did and looked forward to work every day. He was certain he had a clear career path and would continue to do what he loved. But his certainty was shattered and he was left to wonder: why did this happen to me? His life was changed and changed quickly.

This is what has happened to so many in South Carolina. We are sixth in the nation for unemployment and our poverty rates are higher than the national average. The new faces of hunger belong to people who thought hunger would not happen to them.

These new faces appear every day at our Emergency Food Pantries and at the church pantries, soup kitchens, and overcrowded shelters run by our 400 member agencies. I personally have seen the faces at tent cities housing families with children who two years ago lived normal lives with working parents, living in homes of their own choosing and buying the groceries they wanted. The new faces of hunger are frequently people who once came to volunteer but now come to us for food. People who once donated food or money and now need our help to eat. On average we see them at Harvest Hope only three times. But we are seeing them during the worst period of their lives under the worst conditions they have ever experienced. Because of embarrassment and shame and a determination to do everything possible to care for themselves, they have stretched everything they could. But they have to eat. They have to feed their families.

I still see the long lines of people every morning waiting patiently for our Emergency Food Pantries to open. I still hear the agency representatives stopping at my door saying “Denise, what we are dealing with everyday is overwhelming”. I force a smile on my face, my hand goes up to pat them on the back or to give them a hug, but inwardly as they shake their heads in bewilderment, I must say: “I too am overwhelmed.” All of this touches home for me; probably for you too.

I’ve been at Harvest Hope for thirteen years and I’ve never seen this many people looking for work. Like the mom with a six year old who told me just last week: “Denise—the economy has destroyed my marriage. Even though I have a college degree, I am working two part-time jobs to make ends meet. I have learned to do with less, but we can’t do without food.” This mother does need us. Does she want to stand in line for food? Would you? Would you want to trade places with her – just for one day, one bitter and frustrating afternoon? Just to learn, just to feel the anxiety and uncertainty. Just to come to the same realization she did: there is no other choice right now.

Do I need any more proof that they need us? Absolutely not. It angers me sometimes, and perhaps I shouldn’t be so honest about it. But it angers me that anyone can question the harsh reality that forces good working families to our door. I see the despair on their faces, hear the tremor in their voices and know the uncertainty of their futures.

Whatever their reasons, whatever their story, whatever forces compel them to come to us for help: THEY NEED HELP AND WE ARE HERE TO HELP THEM!

Thank you.
Denise Holland

The fastest runner doesn't always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn't always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don't always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.

~ Ecclesiastes 9:11

Faith is courage; it is creative while despair is always destructive.

~David S. Muzzey

2010-04-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

It is with great sadness I that just learned of the passing of long-time Harvest Hope volunteer and supporter Edward Young Roper, Sr. Mr. Roper passed away at the age of 85 peacefully in his home on April 20. He is survived by his wife of 62 years Mary Lee Flowers Roper in addition to two daughters and a son, several grandchildren and step grandchildren.

Ed Roper and Mary Lee were staunch supporters of Harvest Hope for many years. Ed established the Daily Bread Memorial Fund years ago through the Central Carolina Community Foundation as a principal investment to provide continued income for Harvest Hope.

Ed’s dedication to battling hunger stems from his personal experience as a prisoner of war in a concentration camp during WWII. When just twenty years old he was captured on the battlefield shortly after the Battle of the Bulge by the Germans, and held from December of 1944 until April of ’45. Each day Ed and the other American prisoners were given just one loaf of bread to divide among six or eight men. Even though they existed in a continued state of near-starvation, the soldiers were made to perform backbreaking work.

The memory of terrible hunger and nutritional privation instilled in Ed Roper the desire to see that no one in his community suffered the effects of hunger. After receiving reparations from the Germans for his cruel treatment at the concentration camp, he established the Daily Bread Memorial Fund to benefit Harvest Hope. A designated fund such as Ed’s Daily Bread Memorial Fund supports a specified charitable institution named when the donor establishes the fund. Income from the fund is paid to the designated organization to be used to support the operations and programs. To ensure that Ed’s lifetime commitment to feeding the hungry is honored, his family has asked that in lieu of flowers contributions be made to either Harvest Hope or the Daily Bread Memorial Fund.

I will never forget the times I spent with Ed and Mary Lee as he talked about his experience being captured by the Germans, suffering from hunger and watching others around him die from starvation. He was very passionate to make sure that he took every opportunity to help hungry people and to educate others about the serious effects of hunger. He was a volunteer for many years with the Golden K's Kiwanis club helping Harvest Hope Food Bank by picking up bread each morning from area grocery stores, then bringing it back to the food bank to give out to clients and agencies. He, along with his friend Porter Anderson, made sure that his Sunday School Class at Trenholm Road United Methodist Church was involved with helping others and at least annually wanted a speaker from Harvest Hope to come in and help tell the story of hunger and facts of what hungry people experience in South Carolina.

All of us at Harvest Hope Food Bank share in the grief being felt by Mary Lee and her family. They have shared in a lifetime of joy and giving from Ed Roper who was a very strong supporter that through a personal quest he did not want to see anyone suffer from hunger. Our hearts reach out to the Roper family with love and peace.

2010-04-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend the state of South Carolina lost a great citizen: Michael J. Mungo. He was a quiet, gentle, philanthropic business man who lived Christian values by caring deeply for those experiencing basic needs and real crises. He gave generously to those in need of food, shelter, and medicine.

Michael J. Mungo was co-founder of Harvest Hope Food Bank and supported the needs of hungry people throughout his life. He embodied God's commandment that by helping the least of his children then you also served the Lord.

Like so many others, I share in awe and respect from knowing Mr. Mungo’s spirit of generosity and his keen business sense. He gave wholeheartedly to Harvest Hope as well as several other charities. In his giving he specified his ideals and knew exactly how his gifts were to be used. He made sure that every charity he supported used his gifts wisely and prudently and was diligent in ensuring they were successful and true to their vision.

He provided his vision and leadership skills to projects large and small that would benefit people experiencing the worst of times. He knew that at any moment it could be any and all of us who needed help. He never wanted recognition, only the assurance that the right things would be done for those in need.

Michael Mungo was a great business man with a strong work ethic, sharing and teaching his values first to family then to friends and associates. I had great respect for him because he asked the tough questions while also wanting to know the "real stories" about those who stood to benefit from his generosity and compassion. Before he gave to anyone he wanted to discuss the financials, then hear the vision and then determine the need. I believe the same individual stamina he obviously put forth in his business he also put forth as energetically and passionately to his volunteer and humanitarian work.

So many who never knew who he was or what he was about were helped out of a terrible crisis without realizing who their "angel" was. His yard on St. Andrews Road was a floral showcase year round, but his blooms of human kindness are much more abundant throughout the state. Rest in peace, Mr. Mungo. You gave so selflessly so others may live.

Easter Blessings

2010-04-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

I am happy to write to you on Maundy Thursday, just before Easter weekend. As the CEO of Harvest Hope Food Bank, I thank everyone for their generous support already this year helping us feed the hungry in our community. It is a shame that so many people right here in our neighborhood have to suffer the debilitating effects of hunger. On this Night before Good Friday, I’d like you to think about what this day means to you and what this day means for hungry people in South Carolina.

Evangelical minister Tony Campolo is famous for telling the “It’s Friday but Sunday’s Coming” speech. This sermon has been retold many times in many different churches by many different pastors. Here is just a taste, for those of you unfamiliar with the service:

“It was Friday, and my Jesus is dead on a tree. But that’s Friday, and Sunday’s comin’. Friday, Mary’s crying her eyes out; the disciples are running in every direction like sheep without a shepherd. But that’s Friday, and Sunday’s comin’. Friday, some are looking at the world saying, “As things have been, so they shall be. You can’t change anything in this world!” But they don’t know that it’s only Friday, and Sunday’s a comin’. Friday and those forces that oppress the poor and keep people down, those forces that destroy people, the forces in control now, those forces that are gonna rule, they don’t know it’s only Friday, but Sunday’s comin’. Friday, people are saying, “Darkness is gonna rule the world, sadness is gonna be everywhere,” They don’t know it’s only Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’. Even though this world is rotten, as it is right now, we know it’s only Friday. But Sunday’s comin’”

As Christians we see Good Friday as a time to reflect, a time to think about our own struggles and the insignificance of them compared to our Savior who struggled on the Cross. But with his sacrifice, we know that there is hope ahead, there is light that will overcome the darkness. Our God will be resurrected, we will be cleansed of our sins and lightness and goodness will be let back in the world.

For many in our communities, the darkness is overwhelming. Many of these people have never experienced the darkness and uncertainty before this year. Many are husbands and Wives who had beautiful homes, smiling happy children and plenty of food for their table. Now, through the effects of a horrible recession, they have lost their jobs and they are no longer able to provide food for their families and pay a mortgage. Many of our elderly men and women, our parents and grandparents, who have worked hard to one day, be able to retire, have found themselves alone and with little money to buy the necessary food they need after the outrageous prices of medication and doctor’s visits. As for the Children of South Carolina, our precious, innocence future, who are unable to understand the complexities of the economic woes of our country, 1 in 4 of them do understand what it feels like to go to bed hungry. These families, these fellow neighbors and South Carolinians are lost in the darkness, hungry, scared, hopeless and alone.

But truly they are not alone. They do have a savior and hope is coming. At Harvest Hope we are able to provide for our hungry neighbors through our strong Christian community, nonprofit network and through the efforts of hard working individuals who volunteer their time and money. It is through your efforts in our community of giving that we are able to show hungry people even in the darkest hour, that it’s Friday but Sunday is coming.

As Jesus reminds us, it is our duty as Christians to care for all of mankind; “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

We thank you so dearly for helping and supporting us at Harvest Hope Food Bank. Through your many Mobile Food Pantries you have helped so many of our hungry neighbors. You have taken Jesus’ requirements of us as Christians and put them into real action. You are helping a needy community and through doing so are strengthening your church and your individual relationship with Christ.

I hope that all of you take a moment tonight to reflect on your struggles and to know that no matter what crisis you have in your life at this point; no matter how dark it might get—know that you are not alone.

May God Bless you. Remember—that it is only Friday—and Sunday’s coming.

Denise Holland
CEO
Harvest Hope Food Bank

2010-01-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

Throughout most of 2009 we at Harvest Hope worked hard to feed the many hungry South Carolinians who came to us for emergency food relief. We saw that the lines were getting longer and that more and more people were showing up at our Emergency Food Pantries and at our partnering agencies’ food relief locations. It was obvious to us that the number of people in our community affected by the current economic downturn and thrown into financial hardship and nutritional despair was increasing exponentially. But now we are seeing data proving just how frightening and overwhelming the situation really is.

On Friday, January 22 the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the SC Employment Security Commission released year-end unemployment rates, and the data confirms what we have already seen to be true: an incredible amount of people in South Carolina have lost their jobs and more continue to lose their jobs every week. As of December 2009, South Carolina showed an unemployment rate of 12.6 %, the fourth highest in the country. 273,175 South Carolinians are out of work. Our state shed over 50,000 jobs in the last year, with many counties in Harvest Hope’s service area showing levels of unemployment greatly in excess of the national unemployment rate of 10%.

The average unemployment rate for the 20 counties served by Harvest Hope is 14.77%. The ten-county Columbia service area shows an unemployment rate of 12.1%, while the eight-county Pee Dee service area shows a rate of 17.44%. Marion County is the hardest hit in our service area, with an unemployment rate of 22.8%.

According to information just released by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), South Carolina was fifth in the nation for families suffering from food hardship in 2009, with 22.4% of the state’s population reporting they did not have enough money to buy food. Columbia was 15th in the nation, with 20.7 % of families suffering from food hardship.

These are the economic conditions that drive the lives of individuals and families into disorder. They are forced to scramble to meet their most basic of needs and compelled to make choices and sacrifices they are unaccustomed to. The most basic human physiological needs (taking in nourishment) are suddenly weighed against secondary safety and security needs (providing reliable shelter and a modicum of comfort). According to acclaimed psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory on the Hierarchy of Human Needs, people usually try to fulfill physiological needs (eating) first, then seek to satisfy safety and security needs (shelter) second. But economic hardship often reverses those needs, working against basic human nature. People do not want to lose their homes, and do not want to force their families into the elements, and economic disorder drives them to make a decision to choose between food or shelter.

The people, the families that come to us for help, do not want to beg for food or assistance. Everyone wants their lives to be in order. They want self sufficiency, to put a reliable roof over their heads, to pay their bills, purchase food and provide for their own medical needs. They want to be productive members of society. Our records over the last year reveal that over 70% of our clients come to us no more than three times as they worked through their periods of disorder.

As I said, our clients do not want a handout. They want to know they are self-reliant and then feel good about themselves. A further and critical level in Maslow’s Hierarchy is meeting and achieving needs related to personal esteem. People want to feel good about themselves. They want to know they have confronted adversity, made difficult decisions, swallowed some pride and asked for assistance they previously thought they would never need, worked through their period of hardship and put their lives back in order. We have helped them meet the most basic and primary of needs in the Human Hierarchy and they can find comfort and esteem in knowing they are on the road to self-sufficiency.

That’s the service we provide, the value we give to their lives. By providing food at a time of crisis and anxiety, we give them the chance to focus on other critical priorities in order to meet the basic human needs of shelter and security. We allow the means for them to move through their period of crisis and adjust to their new circumstances. From there, they will provide their own means of self-reliance and esteem.

I believe that people desire to be self sufficient with the ability to choose their own foods, pay their own bills, choose their own medical care and take charge of all the sundry factors that influence their lives. I don't believe people desire to suffer the embarrassment of having to come to a charity to obtain free food. But sometimes life throws us all curve balls and we have to find ways to meet our most basic of needs. It is a huge blessing to have church food pantries, soup kitchens, emergencies shelters, free medical clinics and other non- profit organizations providing these most critical of basic needs when jobs are lost and families are hit the hardest with overwhelming struggles.

Next week we will release the results of a year-long hunger study with information gathered by Feeding America and Harvest Hope and compiled by Mathematica Policy Research. This report will detail specifics, enlightening and frightening, explaining who our clients are and the conditions that impel them to come to us for assistance. This information is timed to release with other Feeding America food banks across the country. Be sure to check back for insights into the lives of those who find themselves in need of the vital humanitarian service we provide.

I look forward to sharing with you again next week.

Denise Holland

Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away. ~ Job 11:16

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ~ World Health Organization, 1948

For more information on Abraham Maslow:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhmasl.html

For more information on the Food Research and Action Center:
http://www.frac.org/

2010-01-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

As we begin the new year as well as the new decade, I would like to take a moment to count our many blessings. Harvest Hope has benefited from an abundance of blessings over the last year. Those blessings have come to us in the form of donations stemming from the enormous compassion and generosity of so many in the Midlands who care for their neighbors. To the many who have helped us get through the most trying period of want and need in our history I can only express our deepest gratitude and the assurance that your heart-felt contributions went far toward relieving the suffering of thousands in our community.

As we count the count the blessings of last year, we look ahead to the new year and see the need is still critical, but it is a need I know that we can meet with continued support from our many generous patrons and donors. I want everyone who helped us meet the incredible needs we faced last year, and in truth, all the years we have strived to feed the hungry in our community, to know that everyday we look at you as treasures.

Treasures are precious and favored things that we hold close to our hearts. For the Harvest Hope Food Bank, our treasures are the many donors, patrons, agencies, board members, volunteers, community partners and staff members who remain committed to ensuring that the hungry in our community can rely on us for food when they need it. Our treasures are also our clients, the individuals and families and children who are thrown into economic turmoil and cannot, despite their best efforts, meet the needs of putting enough food on their tables. As you serve, you are a treasure. As you receive, you are also a treasure. We think of all of you as being inside the treasure chest we call Harvest Hope.

In thinking about the collective group I count as the treasures of Harvest Hope, I’m aware that maybe you need to know more about what we do here at the food bank. Maybe you need to know more about the size and scope of our operation, the ways we receive and distribute food to the hungry. The ways that we attack hunger and strive to defeat the anxiety of need. The easiest way for everyone to see what we do and learn about our operation is to take an H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People Eat) tour at one of our Emergency Food Bank and distribution centers. A forty-five minute H.O.P.E. tour is a fascinating and educational way to learn how we receive, store and disperse the tons of food that arrive here daily. A tour will show you the many facets of transportation we deal with as well as the complexities of food issues such as product safety and USDA standards compliance. You will see the challenges we face in receiving, processing and then distributing 30 million pounds of food throughout 20 different counties every year. Seeing what we do here everyday is the best way to understand how complex and mammoth our operations truly is. Just as important, you will also see the faces of those who are at the end of their rope and who come to us in need. You will learn the ways we greet them and determine how we can best help them keep food on their tables.

Frequently we hear from those who visit and take our tour say how surprised they are at the size and scope of our operation. They are often awed by the expanse of our warehouse, the towering racks of food and the vast quantities of product handled by our staff and flowing daily through our facility. It changes the ways they think about our mission of feeding the hungry.

We at Harvest Hope open our doors and welcome the opportunity for everyone in the community to see how we meet the increasing demand of providing food to the hungry. We would like for you to open yourselves up to learning more about what we do and how we do it. We offer tours of our Shop Road facility during the day or in the early evening, although I recommend touring during operating hours from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm to observe and appreciate the full extent of our daily activities. I can assure you that at no time during the tour do we ask for or expect donations. It is purely an educational and learning experience.

We also extend invitations to tour our Florence and Greenville food banks. Each facility faces unique challenges in meeting their own local needs, and touring those locations sheds different perspectives on the ways that Harvest Hope tailors its hunger relief outreach. For individual information on H.O.P.E. tours, please see the following contact specifics:

Columbia location:
2220 Shop Road
(803) 254-4432

Pee Dee (Florence) location:
2513 West Lucas Street
(843) 661-0826

Greater Greenville Area
5200 Pelham Avenue, Suite A
(864) 281-3998

I know after you have been to the heart of our outreach you will have a broader perspective on Harvest Hope and the message of our humanitarian mission. I am asking for your assistance this year to help spread the knowledge of that mission, and to share your experience with the people who are your individual treasures and invite them to take a tour of Harvest Hope.

Let’s make 2010 the year that we not only display the work of Harvest Hope to our treasures, but work to build a larger treasure chest. Let’s maintain the good work we have done and continue to meet the needs of those who need our helping hands.

I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon.

Denise Holland

For Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also ~ Matthew 6:19-24

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~ Thornton Wilder

2009-12-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

To begin with, let me express my thanks to everyone who responded to our calls for donations during the holiday season and found the compassion to provide gifts of food or monetary contributions to make this time of year a little less distressing for those in need. As I said last time, the lines of hungry and despairing people wanting just to provide for their families during a time when so many of us take food for granted reached record lengths. I am happy to say that we did not turn anyone away empty-handed.

Just the other week we wrapped up the 11th annual Share Your Holiday Food Drive, and I wanted to express my thanks to everyone who helped us transform a cold, damp parking garage in downtown Columbia into a bustling donation nerve center and television studio. This is the 11th year we have partnered with WACH Fox to put on this day-long, drive-through food drive at First Baptist Church. Despite the rain and gloomy weather, I am happy to say that we took in 1.78 million pounds of food during the food drive, and a large amount of monetary donations. This exceeds last year’s donation level, and will go a long way toward helping us feed the hungry through the holiday season. Thank you to our great sponsors: SCE&G, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Palmetto GBA, SCANA, First Baptist Church, Citadel Broadcasting and Food Lion. Thank you to companies like the Mungo Company and Wachovia Wells Fargo for showing up with generous cash donations. Thank you to First Baptist Church for giving us such a wonderful central location to work from. And of course thank you to everyone at WACH Fox who worked with us from 5:00 am to 7:30 pm.

I wish I could say the need for your concern and donations was over. But the necessity for hunger relief is still ever-present in our community. We anticipate the demand for food next week to reach all time highs, and so there are still those unfortunates who struggle to make their modest incomes sufficient for all their needs, and are forced to make the difficult decision to turn to us for help.

If you have given to us recently, then I urge you to make your friends and family aware of the warmth and comfort you derived from knowing that you helped others in their time of need and despair. Let them know how much giving has meant to you as well as those who are suffering. And let them know that this week we are pleased to participate in several events meant to make giving not just rewarding, but convenient and perhaps even fun.

At this time, I think it is important to talk about need in our community. Need that comes from so many of our neighbors who seek assistance in putting food on the table. This is something that many of us take absolutely for granted. Let me give you an example: the other morning I went to make a quick breakfast before coming to work, and I was little put out when I discovered that I was out of milk for my coffee and bread to make toast. The first thing I thought was: I don’t have anything to make for breakfast. And then I realized I had eggs, I had cheese, and easily a half dozen other things to make for my breakfast. But for so many of our suffering and hungry neighbors, when they say they don’t have anything to make for breakfast, they really mean they don’t have ANYTHING. Not for themselves, not for their children and not for the others in their family. Not for breakfast…not for lunch…and not for dinner. The next time you walk into your kitchen, I want you to look around and see how much food you really have, and try to imagine not having anything in the refrigerator or pantry. Then try to imagine not having any idea where your next meal will come from. That’s the reality for so many of our neighbors spread over the 20 counties that Harvest Hope serves. That’s what I mean by need.

To finish up, I would like to encourage everyone this holiday season to give a gift to the hungry children, seniors and needy families in our community through our Holiday Gift Catalog. We are offering opportunities to people who want to make a financial donation to the food bank in honor of someone for the holidays. It’s easy – just call with your credit card or send a check along with the names and addresses of the honorees and we’ll take care of the rest. Take a look at the Holiday Gift page on our website to find out how easy and affordable it is.

Before I wrap things up this time I would like to leave you with two thoughts on the joy and power of giving:

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Corinthians 9:12

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers. Seneca

We hope to see hear from you soon, and bless you for your generous gifts,

Denise Holland

2009-11-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving over the last few days. Sometimes I think we’ve all become so used to the word as a description of a specific day, a specific holiday, that we have lost sight of what a term like thanks-giving truly means. As families rush around preparing for Thanksgiving dinners and get-togethers this week, I wanted to slow things down if possible and reflect on some things worth giving thanks for. And maybe correct some misconceptions about those who come to us for help.

Here at Harvest Hope Food Bank, we all count our blessings daily and sometimes hourly. We feel the need for thanks-giving to our many, many donors and contributors. To all of the churches and civic organizations that take time out of their days to work with us and organize food drives and encourage everyone coming through their doors to drop off food items. To all of the area businesses who provide generous financial gifts to help us pay for food and the means to provide for the needy. To all of the volunteers who chose to spend time working at our emergency food pantries, who not only find the time in their busy lives to help out, but allow themselves to see the faces of the hungry and experience first-hand a measure of sorrow that many others do not wish to see. And to those private citizens who drop off gifts of food in our food barrels around town, or come to our facilities with carloads of food to give to their desperate neighbors.

Let me take the time to talk a little about those neighbors, the people who line up each morning and ask for our help. From time-to-time I hear others, others who obviously are blissfully unaware of how fortunate they are, make disparaging comments about the hungry and unfortunate who line up to see us. They want to categorize these people as lazy or unwilling to work to provide for themselves. For some reason I cannot understand, they think that it is easy to line up at food pantries like ours and ask for things so many of us take for granted.

Well friends, it is not easy, and I can assure you that these people do not want to be here. Many of them have jobs; in fact 93% of the people who come to us for emergency food are working but still exist below the poverty line and struggle to provide the most basic of necessities for themselves and their families. As I look out my window today, I see a long line of people waiting in the cold and the rain to tell us of their circumstances and leave with one less thing to worry about for a little while: food for their families. A basic human need. Think about. People who go to work everyday, people who have two or three jobs, people who struggle to earn a living and still do not make enough to pay all the bills and feed their families.

Many we see have lost jobs, and want nothing more than to return to work and return to the security and dignity that comes from providing for themselves. Many have college degrees and formerly held high-paying jobs, but have been laid off, let go, downsized, phased down, phased out, or any of a number of terms that have come to be polite ways of saying…forced toward poverty. Terms like “jobless recovery” or “economic recovery” have no meaning for them. These terms do not pay for groceries. For the past 26 months I have seen an increasing demand for our services. We currently serve over a 100% more people than we did last year. Throughout the year we have seen 400 to 500 people a day line up when we open our doors in the morning. This week, the week of Thanksgiving, we expect to see upwards of 800 people a day. Believe me friends, they would rather be warm and dry at work than wet and shivering in line for food.

The State newspaper just ran a story listing Columbia as one of the top ten most charitable cities in the country. I see proof of this everyday as I see the donors, the contributors, the businesses bringing food and writing checks to us, and the volunteers in our emergency food pantry. And not just in Columbia. We see the efforts and concerns of good people helping out in the Pee Dee region and the Greater Greenville area. Our good citizens know what blessings are, and know what they have to give thanks for. Many may know that given the wrong circumstances, they themselves could go from giving to the needy to in just a few months becoming the needy. We at Harvest Hope give thanks to these angels in our community. We are blessed to live and work with them.

The Lord can say to every one of these caring and generous members of the community: “Job well done good and faithful servants.”

Let’s remember what thanks-giving truly means. It is a wonderful time of year and a wonderful holiday. But more than that, it is a wonderful term we should keep in our hearts, cherish and remember throughout the year.

Thank You and God Bless You and Your Family,

Denise Holland