Join the CROP Hunger Walk

Will you volunteer your time, energy and walking shoes to help fight world hunger?  Crop Walk is an international hunger walk to raise awareness and funds for those who are hungry across the globe. It is the oldest hunger-fighting fundraising event in the U.S. and involves over 1,600 communities each year.  We are looking for individuals, schools, churches, civic groups and all other community groups to join the walk to fight hunger.

When: Sunday, November 11, 2012

Where: State House Grounds

Registration: 1:00 pm

Walk Begins: 2:00 pm

For more information please contact:

Amy Lowery

803-254-4432 ext. 1143

alowery@harvesthope.org

Crop Walk Website

Volunteer the Gift of Books to Children

Do you have a bookshelf full of children’s books that are never read anymore? Are they gaining dust by the week/month/year? Then we have a way to get those books to kids who need and want them!

Livi’s Library is a new project that involves collecting gently used children’s books to share with children who cannot afford them. Livi’s Library is a program in honor of a young girl named Mary Olivia “Livi" Pettit, of Lancaster, SC, who died at age 9 of viral myocarditis. She loved to read and learn; so the people who love her have started this project in her name.

Harvest Hope is partnering with this great new program in order to offer quality children's books to our clients. Please, volunteer your time by cleaning out those dusty bookshelves and donate those old books to someone who can use them!

 

What: Livi’s Library

Where: Drop off at

SC First Steps, 1300 Sumter Street, Columbia SC 29201  

                                   OR 

Harvest Hope Food Bank 2220 Shop Rd. Columbia, SC 29201

When: 

Monday – Friday 8am-4pm

Harvest Hope Producers (H2P)

Have you heard about our H2P group?  Here is everything you need to know to get involved and volunteer your time!

Who:   This group consists of Young Professionals in the Midlands who are passionate about helping hungry families in South Carolina and are looking for a way to engage and be involved with the mission of Harvest Hope Food Bank.  

What:   The group does many activities to include volunteering, working on special projects, hosting numerous events, and other promotions that involve helping hungry people and Harvest Hope Food Bank. 

When:  The Advisory Board to the group meets monthly, however, there are usually monthly events throughout the Columbia-metro area that H2P members and the public can attend.  Currently our upcoming events include:

·         Strike Out Hunger on 9.21.12 at Anchor Lanes in Irmo on Columbiana Drive:  $12 gets you shoes and unlimited bowling for 3 hours.  50% of proceeds will go back to Harvest Hope!

·         Hold Out For Hunger on 10.11.12 that will encourage people to skip a meal that day and donate what they would spend on that meal to Harvest Hope.

To get involved check out their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/hhproducers

 

Help Harvest Hope take action against hunger during Hunger Action Month!

Please share this video with your friends and family.

Will you volunteer us your facebook status in order to Take Action Against Hunger?

September is HUNGER ACTION MONTH and we have the ultimate volunteer activity for you! It’s  simple, effective and easy!  All month we will be posting hunger facts, videos, and client testimonials on Facebook and Twitter to help educate the public about Hunger in South Carolina.  Speak Out Against Hunger by reposting our Facebook/Twitter posts about hunger in SC.   Encourage your friends to “like” or repost as well in order to make this the best Hunger Action Month ever. 

Together we can take action to END hunger in SC!  

SHARE ONE – FEED MORE

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!