You’re Invited to a Harvest Hope (H.O.P.E.) Tour

Have you ever been to one of our facilities? Would you like a behind-the-scenes look at how we receive and distribute the enormous quantities of quality food necessary to fulfill our mission?

Harvest Hope Food Bank offers H.O.P.E. (Help Our People Eat) tours of all of our facilities to show the ways we receive, store, and distribute food to more than 450 partner agencies, and assist struggling families throughout South Carolina. Our tours are designed to help guests better understand the issues of hunger, how we strive to meet the needs of our hungry neighbors and how to get involved.

If you’re interested in joining a H.O.P.E. tour just call one of our facilities listed in the right hand column of the blog. 

The picture of hunger in your community

Do you know what hunger looks like in your backyard?  Do you know who it affects and what it would take to eradicate it? 

This great new study “Map the Meal Gap 2012: Food Insecurity Estimates at the County Level” released by Feeding America gives us the first ever look at food insecurity at the local level.  The new food insecurity data reviewed with local poverty levels and Hunger in America 2010 data allows us to, among other things, understand better the gaps between those living in poverty, those receiving federal assistance, and those utilizing emergency food assistance programs. 

This study comes with an interactive national map (click to view) that will allow you to look at your own county data including the number of people that are food insecure, average cost of meal in that county, and the total amount of funds needed to end hunger in that county. For example this tells us that across our 20 counties there are 343,400 food insecure individuals that all have a weekly food budget shortfall of $13.51.  This equates to a yearly budgetary shortfall of $140,680,170 to feed 59,109,315 meals to these individuals!   
 

Now, if only it told us exactly how many volunteers are needed to prepare and serve all those meals!  

Kids' Art Contest to Benefit Harvest Hope Food Bank

Harvest Hope is having a Kids' Art Contest for our 2012 Holiday Card Set!  Four talented and lucky kids will have their art featured on our Holiday Card Set that will be sold as a fundraiser for Harvest Hope Food Bank.   Here are all the details:

When:  Contest will run from now until September 28th

Who: Contest is open to any kids (17 and under) from South Carolina

What: Art Themes should be about Harvest Hope, winter, and or the winter holidays.

How to Submit: Please click here to view the attached Entry Form.

Winners:  The top 20 entries (as selected by Harvest Hope Staff) will be posted on the Harvest Hope Food Bank Facebook page on Monday, October the 8^th.  The top 4 pictures with the most “likes” by 4:30 pm Friday, October 12^th will be selected as the winners.

Rules: Only one entry per kid.  Please submit all entries on plain white paper (no lined paper please).  Please use lots of colors and be creative. All submissions must be at Harvest Hope Food Bank by the deadline date to be considered.  By submitting your artwork or that of your child you are thus handing over all rights to the artwork. The names and age of the winner will be featured on the cards unless otherwise stated by the parent or guardian.  Employees of Harvest Hope Food Bank and their children are ineligible for the competition.