Crowd gathers in Florence for chance at bag of food

FLORENCE – Seniors lined up across the parking lot, around the building corner and down Elm Street at Lighthouse Ministries Friday morning for a chance at a bag of food.

The parking lot at the ministries was full of both cars and people by 7:30 a.m. – an hour and a half before the event was slated to start.

In all, ministry officials said they had enough food for about 250 people and, while they were scheduled to be open 9-11 a.m. for the giveaway, said they could run that many people through in about an hour and a half.

The giveaway was a cooperative effort between the ministries which conducted the event, BB&T and its subsidiary Prime Rate Premium Finance which donated the food, and KJ’s Market which donated the bags.

“The need is tremendous for the food and this just came at a really good time,” Austin Watson, executive director of Lighthouse Ministries, said.

“Yes, Lord, it sure helped me a lot,” Vernetia Woods, standing toward the front of the line, said.

Woods said she had four people in her household – Woods, her husband, a grandson and a nephew—and the food would help stretch the family’s food budget.

“We focused on senior citizens because that is an area of folks with a very limited income,” Watson said.

About half the people who inquired about the giveaway have not needed assistance from the ministries in the past, Cecilia Meggs, outreach ministries director, said.

“This week, since we’re advertised this, we’ve received numerous calls, more than usual,” Meggs said.

The food giveaway was just one of four initiatives the bank and ministries have teamed up to do, Corinne Hunt, with Prime Rate, said.

BB&T allocated $100 per employee for August and September to support charities and left it up the local offices to pick which charities to work with, she said.

Other efforts between the two included a fund raising campaign, a diaper drive to help support working mothers and an effort that collected 200 “gently used” books for distribution.