Harvest Hope Prepares for the Holiday Season

          Many people know harvest hope as the charitable organization where they can donate food to help feed the hungry in the local community.  The mission for Harvest Hope is to acquire and distribute food for hungry people in twenty counties of South Carolina.   However, as the end of the year approaches and the weather begins to get colder, Harvest Hope begins to see more and more people come knocking on their door needing assistance for food.   Harvest Hope does not turn away anybody that asks for assistance.  However as the economy is still in a slump, more people are in need of assistance from charities like Harvest Hope than ever before in recent history.

Harvest Hope is projecting record numbers of requests for assistance again this holiday season.  According Skot Garrick, communications manager for Harvest Hope, they will be ready for the rush.  “Last year we saw about 2,200 families coming to us the three day week of Thanksgiving.  Looking at current projects, we expect that number to exceed 3,500 families,” says Garrick.  That is an over 50% increase from last year with the likely potential of more families.  However there are multiple people being fed in each family. Therefore, the forecasted number of people is expected to be upwards of about five or six thousand people to depend on assistance from Harvest Hope for their Thanksgiving meal.  That is only people in the Columbia area, and does not include people in the other eighteen counties in South Carolina that Harvest Hope serves. 

With the rise in people coming Harvest Hope has found many are coming to them asking for assistance for the first time.  Garrick said that in the month of October about 15% of the people that requested assistance reported that this was their first time in asking for assistance.  It is hard to really nail down what might be the cause of this since the economic recession has been going on for the past few years.  Garrick credits it to people having to spend the little money and resources they have on other expenses.  He says, “We’re seeing more and more working and middle class people who probably never thought they would ever have to ask for assistance.  In addition to everything else going on in their lives, they are worried about being thrown out of their homes or their apartments, putting gas in their car, finding another job, paying for clothes for their kids, losing their auto insurance.  Then they realize they do not have enough money for food either.”  All of these factors point to the fact that people have exhausted all of their resources that they have been able to rely on for the past several months.  Garrick continued on to say, “Once they make the decision that they are going to have to ask for help then they have to figure out who is out there that can help us.  Fortunately, most people in the Midlands know about Harvest Hope and will give us a call and find out what we do and how we do it.” 

With the record numbers that Harvest Hope is experiencing, they have to do more food drives and have more community partners than before.   They are depending more on community partners to help Harvest Hope meet their demand.  Garrick said, “Just this month alone we have had two new partners with ABC Columbia stepping up to help us do food drives. Midas Mufflers has stepped up with sponsorship to collect donated money and canned goods.  Equally, Little Caesars is working with ABC Columbia and they will be collecting funds and goods as well.”  In addition to these new community partners in media sponsorship Harvest Hope also has other local businesses committing to help.  “The Blue Marlin in the Vista, this is the first time we have partnered with them.  They are allowing diners to make a donation to Harvest Hope as they pay their tab.  We have so many other partners to thank, but these mentioned are new for us.”

Another one of Harvest Hope’s major partners is WACH Fox.  “They do Share Your Holiday,” says Garrick, “which is going to be an all day food drive on November 30th from 6am to 7:30pm at First Baptist Church Columbia.  That is our largest drive of the year where we collect the most funds and the most food in a one-day period.  It certainly helps us launch into the busy December period with a lot of food.”  Garrick continues to say people can drop by all day and drop off food and donations.  This will help Harvest Hope re-stock their warehouse and distribute the food to the hungry people in the area.  However, there are also other ways people can donate.  Garrick says the easiest way to donate is online.  “We have several different ways you can donate.  There is a great resource on our website, www.harvesthope.org, that is called the virtual food drive.  You can go in and basically click and drag a case of different types of food in a grocery cart.  It tallies it up and you can checkout at the donation level that you are comfortable with.  That money will go to us as a donation.”  Of course you can give a straight donation on their website too.  As Harvest Hope gears up for their holiday season, they ask people to always consider making a donation to them whether monetary or with goods.  Ninety-eight cents of every dollar they take in goes towards providing for the needy.  They want everyone in the community, including the needy, to be able to enjoy a meal this holiday season.

USC Students Partner with Non-Profit to Minister in the Community

          Inside Out Inc. is a non-profit organization based in the Columbia area of South Carolina. The basic mission of Inside Out is to take God's love into the surrounding community to see lives changed from the "inside out."  This is what founder Christy Gunnell began doing back in 2000.  Since then, she and her volunteers have reached out into the local communities to begin ministering to kids and their families.  Her predominate community have been trailer park communities in the Percival Road area of Columbia.

            Her days are anything but ordinary.  From referring people to doctors and other offices, to help families receive government assistance; to helping deliver babies Gunnell has done it all.  However, her ministry also does so much more for the community.  She says, “We give out turkey’s at Thanksgiving as well as tracts with the turkeys.  At Christmas we give out two toys for every child, wrap the toys, and share the true meaning of Christmas with families.” 

            In order for this to ministry to be successful there are many more people that help Gunnell in her efforts to reach the trailer park communities.  Many of her volunteers are students from the University of South Carolina.  Thomas Gruel is one of her helpers that leads a group every Tuesday and Thursday from the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, or BCM, on campus.  He says, “A lot of these kids they have a lot less than we ever thought possible and it’s just a matter of giving back to the community.  It’s a good way to get these kids on the right track and give them a get away from their normal lives that are usually pretty tough.”  However, she does have other students that are not involved at BCM.  Emily McCollum, a freshman at USC, has been working with Gunnell for a little over three years.  McCollum still makes time for this ministry in her busy schedule at school.  “Now that I’m at college I still drive from downtown to see the kids all the time because it’s a nice way for me to get away from the craziness of being in college and being apart of these kids lives and seeing them grow up.” 

            During the hour or so that Gunnell and her volunteers are in the neighborhood many of the kids come out for the candy that is involved, and a few of the parents come out and watch. However, at the gathering there were only a couple of parents.  One parent was Lesley Arline.  “It’s awesome that these kids give of their time to come out and expose these kids in the community to college and other races.”  Arline continues on raving about the work the Inside Out does in the community. “They really help out around the holidays.”  Arline says.  “At Christmas time they help make sure all the kids get gifts.  They also help make sure every family gets a turkey or a ham.  Then when it is time for the kids to go back to school they help make sure the kids get school supplies.  Those little things help, and as a parent when you know that assistance is coming it helps a lot more.”  While these events that help assist the parents are Arline’s favorite, they are also a favorite of the students from USC that help.  “My favorite thing in the trailer park is at Christmas when we help the parents shop for presents for the kids.  It’s a really moving experience to see the parents overwhelmed with the fact they get to bring Christmas home for their kids for free.  To see their faces and help them put Christmas together for their families is my favorite thing we do throughout the year,” said McCollum.

            While the ministry of Inside Out is to focus on the community, one of the most crucial parts of their ministry is the relationship they have with the kids.  A typical day for the Backyard Bible Clubs is to do a Bible story and maybe a song with everybody together.  The boys would then break and go play football or soccer for a little bit, and then the girls would do a craft of some sort that would follow the Bible story.  “When these guys come out we play around, study the Bible a little, and do some fun activities,” says neighborhood kid José Lopez.  “My favorite thing to do every week is play football because I like catching the ball.”  Miguel Hernandez, another neighborhood kid, said he also had a different reason why.  He said, “You get more experience and get to beat up on them some.”  No matter what situation kids are in, kids will be kids, boys will be boys, and girls will be girls. 

            While playing with the USC students seems to be the highlight of the day for the kids in the neighborhood, the neighborhood kids are also getting to minister to those volunteering even though they do not know it.  Gunnell says, “These are my kids, I’m not married and I don’t have kids.  Now some of my children,” referring to the neighborhood kids, “ are turning into teenagers and I want them to grow up and be missionaries in this community.”  For others like Emily McCollum it’s looking at life differently.  “It’s really put things in perspective for me.  It’s not about us it’s about the kids and making these kids smile and these families happy.  A lot of these families are going through some rough things and to just step back and make my life not about me for an hour or two once a week has changed my life.”  This ministry does change perspective for many student volunteers as well as those in the community.  For more information about the ministry of Inside Out visit their website at www.insideoutsc.org.