Caring and Sharing not just a name to Hemingway charity

Williamsburg County may be one of the most poverty stricken collections of communities in South Carolina. With a large sum of unpaid taxes, county wide unemployment in the double digits and with more job losses on the way, the recession has certainly taken its toll on the county’s residents.

With the county in such dire need of good news, Caring and Sharing of Hemingway is doing its best to help the most vulnerable citizens in the community. Carl Harmon, the State Chairman of the organization, has helped mold Caring and Sharing into the most important charity in the county.

“We are the frontline in Williamsburg County,” Harmon said. “Right now, we’re helping feed over 700 families.”

Harmon estimated that over 22,500 people actually get assistance from Caring and Sharing over the course of a normal month. By verifying the income of all aid recipients, the charity is able to ensure that it is helping those with the most need in the area.

To Harmon, the charity is more than a way to help feed seniors and underprivileged families, while also providing assistance with utility bills. For a man who feels that he was once without purpose, Caring and Sharing has provided Harmon with his true calling.

“I am Caring and Sharing. It is me,” Harmon said. “The Lord came to me in a dream one night and told me this is what he wanted me to do.”

“I was willing to be that instrument. I was saved then, and I knew he had something for me to do.”

Caring and Sharing was started in 1996 and as Harmon said, initially served about 13 local families.

“Now we serve in the thousands, because we have different services,” he said. “We have the food and with the food, we have the Bibles. We help with the utility bills and we help needy children at Christmas. These children would not have a Christmas otherwise.”

The story of Caring and Sharing is a little unsuspecting as from 1996 to 2004, the charity was not serving quite the amount of people that it was now.

Ed Ruffin of Hemingway, the former owner of what used to be Ruffin Department Store on Highway 41 in Hemingway, was contacted by Harmon in 2005 about using the lots behind his former story for the charity. In a genuine act of kindness, Ruffin decided to donate the land to Caring and Sharing.

Soon after, the charity was featured in an article by The Sun News, highlighting the strides that it had made. Harmon said that after the article was published, he was contacted by a donor that decided to donate $20,000 to the construction of the charity’s Hemingway facility.

Harmon said that the charity has ultimately received $55,000 from the donor towards the furthering of the Caring and Sharing capabilities throughout the community. Though the main donations have been in large sums, he said that the charity thrives on the smaller donations that allow the charity to continue its daily work.

Caring and Sharing was recognized by South Carolina in 2005 for being one of the top charity programs in the state. The fact that 92.1 percent of the funds that it takes in go back to the citizens that it serves singled the charity out from other in the state.

The charity gets most of its food from Low County Food Bank and Food Lion and is closely associated with local businesses such as Firestone, Tupperware and Winyah Cruisers who have helped with fundraisers for the organization.

While the day to day work of keeping the charity going drains Harmon, he wouldn’t have it any other way and feels that he will stay with Caring and Sharing until he is no longer able to physically. 

“If I talk with you for a long time, I’m talking about Caring and Sharing,” he said. “It is my life.”

“We’re trying to help those that can’t help themselves.”

To donate to Caring and Sharing, contact Carl Harmon at (843) 558-7966 or stop by their facility in Hemingway at 200 North Railroad Avenue in Hemingway.