Surge continues at local food bank as ripple effect from government shutdown continues

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — The government shutdown is over, and SNAP food benefits are being issued once again — but the ripple effect continues for many folks in need as families continue to recover from the gap in government assistance.

Aaron Hughes and his brother Emmanual say they’re first time volunteers at Harvest Hope Food Bank.

Aaron, a track athlete, says he’s volunteered elsewhere with his school’s team, but this time he and Emmanual decided to do it on their own over their Thanksgiving break.

“With everything going on, there’s a lot of negativity going on in the world. Doing this, it spreads positivity, you can make someone’s day, you know? I think that’s what’s really important about giving back to the community — just trying to make someone’s day, you know?” says Hughes.

Erinn Rowe, CEO of Harvest Hope, says volunteers are needed — especially with this year’s heavy influx of families in need.

This time last year, the food bank served around 83,000 people during this six-week period. This year, that number has skyrocketed to around 148,000 people in that same time frame.

“So we have been so busy, our agencies have been so busy, but we still have more to do as you can see, we still have people needing food, and we’re really here and getting prepared for the next upcoming winter months,” says Rowe.

The SC State Guard continues to assist local food banks with traffic flow and distribution through December 5th, according to Rowe.

And to help with costs, over $400,000 has been divvied out to regional food banks across all 46 counties from the state’s emergency One SC Fund as well — those grants managed by the Central Carolina Community Foundation.

“You know we’re very grateful for the One SC Fund. For the 1st round, we did receive $69,000, which I did purchase a truck of food. If you think through that volume, each truck of food has about 1,500 cases on it. I have 350 partner agencies, so just one truck of food is about five cases per agency for that particular grant. But we’ve had so many other funding partners who have stepped up, we are continuing to buy food, and we are continuing to push it out to our agencies to make sure those in our community can eat,” says Rowe.

ABC Columbia’s Lee Williams spoke with the Tierika Smith and her mom, who say they remain grateful for the help.

“I just lost my job, so just being able to know that Harvest Hope is here, whenever we do fall short, you know, we know that we do have them here in the community to help when we do need them. Because everybody falls short sometimes. But we do thank everybody in a position for helping. It’s definitely been a blessing. And just thank you for continuing to be here throughout our lives,” says Tierika’s mom.

To donate funds to Harvest Hope, click here. To donate food, click here.

To volunteer at Harvest Hope, click here.

If you need assistance, Harvest Hope is located at 2220 Shop Road, Columbia, SC 29201.

Their phone number is 803-254-4432.