Annual Midlands Food Drive
Columbia, S.C. (RELEASE)–The Ninth Annual Midlands Food Drive partnering with “Food From The Heart” to be held Saturday April 1, 2017 at participating Midlands grocery stores. According the Food Research and Action Center, South Carolina is 14th in the nation for families suffering from food hardship, with 20 % of our state uncertain if they will have enough to eat from day to day.
The ninth annual “Food From the Heart” Midlands Food Drive will be held Saturday, April 1, 2017 at forty eight participating local grocery stores in Richland and Lexington Counties. The drive will begin at 9:00 am. Last year’s food drive had 33 participating Richland and Lexington county grocery stores and was worked by over 750 volunteers from Shandon Baptist and Northside Baptist Church. It was a huge success making it one on of Harvest Hope’s largest food collection days ever. The drive raised 132,409 pounds of food, enough for 102,000 meals.
Both churches intend to make the 2017 event the largest one day food drive for Harvest Hope Food Bank in the history of the organization. Their combined goals are 800 volunteers working to collect and then sort 135,000 pounds of food. The food drive will be organized and worked by volunteers from Shandon Baptist Church and Northside Baptist members as they positions themselves outside stores to offer shoppers the opportunity to take a red “Food from The Heart” grocery bag and participate by purchasing as few or as many products off a list of suggested items. Suggested items include canned goods, rice, beans, diapers, baby food and other items. The bags are collected outside the stores and taken to Harvest Hope Food Bank where church volunteers sort the items. They will be distributed to local food pantries and soup kitchens. One hundred percent of all goods collected will benefit men, women and children in the Midlands.
“Every year our clients can be certain that they will have enough food to eat because of this amazing event!” said, Denise Holland, CEO, Harvest Hope Food Bank. “We are, so very, fortunate to have the continued support of WLTX TV, HIS Radio, church volunteers and all of the participating supermarkets in this year’s Food from the Heart event. The donated food we receive every year is always a tremendous resource towards feeding those who quietly suffer from hunger in our communities.”
According to the Food Research and Action Center, South Carolina has one of the highest rates of food hardship in the nation. South Carolina ranks 5th in the nation for childhood poverty, with 25% of children living in poverty across the state.
WLTX TV, HIS RADIO 92.1 and 94.3 FM The Dude will be the media sponsors for the event. For more information please contact David Taylor at (803) 414-6976 or Steve Allen at (803) 520-9544.
Partnering with Food From The Heart
