Volunteer Antonio Jones serves the noontime meal at The Master’s Table Soup Kitchen. His experience of being homeless led him to want to help others who are struggling with hunger and homelessness. Three years ago, Antonio Jones was in a tough spot in Charleston, S.C. “All I had was a truck – a Chevy S10 - and I was sleeping at the park, going to the nearest gas station, washing up and going to work the next day,” Jones says. Back then he struggled; he didn’t know food banks like Golden Harvest or soup kitchens like The [...]

The staff of HisWay Food Pantry and Dana Barksdale of Food Lion smile in front of newly stocked food pantry shelves. The pantry won a Great Pantry Makeover from the Food Lion Feeds foundation. HisWay Food Pantry opened early one Monday morning in October for a special delivery. Volunteers unloaded 80 cases of nonperishable food items outside the pantry at Calvary Temple Assembly of God. Boxes of oatmeal, bags of flour, jars of jam, cans of vegetables and other pantry staples quickly filled the empty shelves. “This will probably last us two weeks,” said food bank director [...]

Jacquelyn loads bags filled with fresh produce, healthy shelf-stable food and frozen meat into her car at the SmartBox food pantry in Fairfax, S.C. Phyllis Smart gives the largest room of the building at Hampton Avenue and 6th Street in Fairfax, S.C., a last once over. A row of tables runs down the center, and volunteers begin to open 50-pound bags of potatoes, pull apples from boxes and stack frozen chicken livers on carts. They’re almost ready to serve up to 200 people at the SmartBox’s biweekly distribution, supplied by Golden Harvest Food Bank. They’re right on [...]

(l-r) Cameron, Cody, Reese and Rachel share a moment on their front porch. Rachel suffers from an autoimmune disorder and must follow a strict diet. 3-year-old Reese bounces excitedly when she sees her favorite non-dairy yoghurt at the food pantry. Her mother Rachel smiles. “We are dairy-free, egg-free, and sugar-free,” Rachel explains, “The specialty food items that we need are not in our budget. Reese gets excited when she sees that here.” Rachel helps her 5-year-old son Cody choose a loaf of gluten-free bread from food pantry shelves. She suffers from an autoimmune disorder that requires her [...]

(l-r) Women in Unity food pantry Volunteer Edith Callaham shares a smile with Bertha, aged 83. Bertha began visiting the food pantry for help after a severe allergic reaction left her medically fragile and struggling to make ends meet. 83-year-old Bertha’s eyes sparkle as she talks about her favorite recipe for cabbage soup. “I don’t cook by a recipe - I make my own recipes,” she says proudly. “And it tastes so good!” Bertha moved to rural South Carolina from New York two years ago to be near family after a medical emergency left her health fragile. [...]

Venicia, mother of two, receives food assistance at a Mobile Food Pantry Summer Market location. Every summer, Golden Harvest sees an increase in the number of hungry families in need of help. Summer utility bills are higher, and when children don’t receive free breakfast and lunch at school, it’s hard to make food budgets stretch. This year, the Food Bank reached out to Richmond County Schools with a new plan to help meet the need. A plan to host Golden Harvest’s Mobile Market at local schools quickly fell into place. Now, twice a week, two refrigerated box [...]

66-year-old Hazel of Warrenton, GA receives a grocery cart full of nutritious food for the month. You can see Hazel’s zest for life clearly reflected in her bright smile, carefully applied makeup and colorful clothing. What’s harder to see is that the 66-year-old resident of Warrenton, GA struggles with hunger since the loss of her son and her cancer diagnosis. “When I came down with cancer my whole world changed,” Hazel remembers. “It was a big shock. At that point, I wanted to give up.” After a lifetime of supporting herself, arthritis and asthma made it impossible [...]