Foundation gives $10,000 grant to Harvest Hope’s Pee Dee site

FLORENCE — Harvest Hope Food Bank’s Pee Dee branch has received a $10,000 grant from the Eastern Carolina Community Foundation.

The grant to Harvest Hope is the first the foundation has made, according to a press release issued Thursday.

The grant is designed to support the new Emergency Food Pantry for the Pee Dee and will serve Darlington, Florence, Marlboro, Dillon, Chesterfield and Marion counties.

The Eastern Carolina Community Foundation is a public charity established in 2006 as a collection of charitable funds built with gifts and bequests from people in the eastern part of the Palmetto state. Its mission is to improve the quality of life in the Pee Dee through inspired philanthropy and innovative community programs.

“We are thrilled to begin this partnership with ECCF,” Harvest Hope CEO Denise Holland said in a press release. “Harvest Hope and Eastern Carolina Community Foundation are truly making a difference with this important contribution to provide for hungry people in the Pee Dee.”

Holland said foundation officials are encouraging Harvest Hope to leverage this money against other capacity-building grants, such as those offered nationally by Feeding America.

“This $10,000 grant will provide 1,852 meals and serve 1,947 clients,” she said. “And when we are able to leverage the funds as we plan to do, those numbers will go up substantially.”

“We believe hunger to be the pressing need in this area. Harvest Hope delivers its services very efficiently and will distribute the goods purchased from this grant throughout the Pee Dee,” Susan Bankson, executive director of the foundation, said. “We are proud to partner with them to promote hunger awareness, and we encourage other individuals and organizations to join us in this endeavor.”

The food bank’s Pee Dee branch is located inside the Pee Dee State Farmers Market at 2513 W. Lucas St., Florence. In 2008, the site distributed 4,103,314 pounds of food through 147 partnering agencies.

Harvest Hope staff had to convert a portion of the warehouse to an Emergency Food Pantry to meet the escalating need in that area.

With job losses continuing in some of South Carolina’s poorest communities, coupled with the coming holidays and winter months, the need remains urgent for hungry people.

The site’s Emergency Food Pantry has seen a 92 percent increase in demand from Pee Dee families since July, Holland said.

“The face of hunger doesn’t discriminate,” she said. “We can’t turn away from our neighbors and friends in these communities who are suffering so much.”

For more information on how to volunteer, donate food or organize a food drive for Harvest Hope, call (843) 661-0826 or visit its Web site at http://www.harvesthope.org.

For information about the foundation, call (843) 667-1131.