With one in four children in South Carolina going to bed hungry every night, Harvest Hope commits 98 cents out of every dollar donated to feeding the hungry. The money donated provides emergency food to 20 counties in SC, and every dollar becomes five meals for hungry people in their service area.
On November 21, Harvest Hope celebrated the grand opening of their new Emergency Food Pantry located at 2818 White Horse Road. The Emergency Food Pantry will provide those in need with a 5 to 6 day supply of food. Food packages vary depending on donations, but usually include non-perishable items such as fruit, vegetables, bread, meat, and dried goods. These food packages can provide the basis for balanced and nutritious meals for the families that are served.
By partnering with members in the Upstate community, under the guidance of Feeding America, to confront the pressing need to put food on the tables of many households in many neighborhoods that are struggling with hunger, Harvest Hope Food Bank (HHFB) works to provide for those needs by gathering and sharing quality food, with dignity, compassion and education.
The prior facility on Pelham Road that was opened in 2007 could not meet the demand of the fight against hunger. Despite various limitations in the beginning of their service HHFB provided over 330,000 pounds of food for 11,000 individuals in Greenville and Laurens Counties. Seeing the need that there was much more to do and many more families that needed assistance prompted the opening of the new facility.
Three years later the old PYA Monarch building on White Horse Road became available to Harvest Hope. The 88,000 square foot warehouse greatly increased storage and distribution capabilities making it the largest in SC. In their first year on White Horse Road, Harvest Hope provided over 4 million pounds of food to 133,000 individuals by working with many agency partners. Finding out that their efforts were still falling short due to lack of direct hunger relief services to those who came to their doorstep motivated the creation of the Emergency Food Pantry (EFP).
The capital campaign for the first EFP in Greenville raised $1 million to retrofit the White Horse Road warehouse, and led to the creation of an attached pantry on the southern end of the building. Any person in Greenville that is in need of assistance to put food on their table will be able to come to the facility and receive enough food for more than a week. Those in need will also get assistance from trained counselors that help connect people with resources to address issues such as healthcare, education, employment training, and job placement.
HHFB anticipates that they will see 200 to 300 families a day at their new EFP. The capacity of the pantry will be able to serve 400 families a day.
Since 1981 Harvest Hope has increased its mission to feed the hungry. Harvest Hope distributed over 28 million pounds of food last year and fed approximately 38,000 people a week. Harvest Hope also serves as South Carolina’s primary disaster hunger relief emergency feeding organization as designated by the SC Emergency Management Division.
For more information visit www.harvesthope.org or call 864-281-3995.
