Shelves empty at Harvest Hope's Florence food pantry

With Thanksgiving less than a month away, the shelves at Harvest Hope Food Bank’s emergency pantry in Florence are empty and collecting dust.

Harvest Hope officials said the number of people and families who have come to Harvest Hope seeking assistance with basic needs has increased by 145 percent in the last year alone.

In addition to providing walk-in clients with the help, Harvest Hope partners with more than 150 other agencies across the Pee Dee that help distribute food to those in need.

In three month, however, Harvest Hope has been unable been unable to help the other agencies for two reasons: a dramatic increase in those who are unemployed or who have been affected by the poor economy and a dramatic decrease in donations from the community.

“We’re seeing that, with the economy going back and forth, donations are down, food drives are down, all the companies are cutting back because they’re having to cut back, as well,” said Michael Murphy, Harvest Hope of the Pee Dee executive director. “While we definitely understand that, the people who are really getting left out are the people who need the food the most.”

Murphy said donations have been so scarce the pantry’s shelves have remained empty week after week, and Harvest Hope officials must connect needy families with partner agencies who can temporarily supply them with food.

Despite the crisis, Harvest Hope isn’t turning away those in need, but instead trying to help them get food through other agencies that ordinarily rely on Harvest Hope.

“It is a major impact when we have all of our 153 agencies come through here to pick up food and they cannot redistribute food back into their community, so it’s a ripple effect,” Murphy said. “We don’t get the food, they don’t get the food to be able to pass back out, so it just makes the economy worse and worse. We’re seeing a drastic hit in this part of the area and we definitely need the help.”

Murphy said donations are needed year round, but the agency is coming up on an especially busy time of year: the holidays. Without food donations, he said, many families across the Pee Dee will go without.

“It’s amazing the calls that will just tear at your heartstrings. ...we have a lot of children who need help, we have a middle class that’s definitely needing help and our seniors, too, as well,” Murphy said.

Murphy said the agency is accepting any and all donations of canned goods, dry food and money that would help the agency purchase food.

Two weeks ago, Johnson Controls Inc. announced it plans to provide more than 6,000 meals to the hungry in the Pee Dee through the Thanksgiving Harvest Challenge in partnership with the Harvest Hope Pee Dee branch.

The company is challenging Pee Dee residents to collect through Nov. 18 a record-breaking four tons of food donations, which would be the largest single donation ever received in Florence. Johnson Controls said it will match community donations by up to two tons for the total goal. Each ton will provide 1,500 meals.

Donations can be made at the Johnson Controls Distribution Center Lobby, in Florence; Harvest Hope Food Bank, at the Pee Dee State Farmers Market; or through the Thanksgiving Harvest Challenge Virtual Food Drive.

For more information, log on to www.HarvestHope.org or call the food bank at 843-661-0826.