Volunteers are all set up and ready to serve at the Vineyard Storehouse Food Pantry. Week after week, these dedicated faces show up ready to welcome neighbors, pack bags, and ensure that everyone who walks through the door leaves with the food they need. For more than 20 years, the Vineyard Church of Augusta’s food pantry has been a place where families can find food, care, and compassion. Today, that mission is especially clear in the way the pantry serves children, making sure even the youngest guests feel welcomed, valued, and seen. Patty, the pantry’s Volunteer Coordinator, [...]

When Mark Masi retired and moved to Augusta to be closer to family, he knew he wanted to spend his time doing something meaningful. About a year ago, he decided to see what Golden Harvest Food Bank was all about. He has been showing up ever since. We are so grateful for Mark and proud to recognize him as our Volunteer of the Year. Mark volunteers at The Master’s Table Community Kitchen and at our Augusta campus, serving several times a week as his schedule allows. Some days, he helps provide meals to neighbors in need of a hot, [...]

Nutritious food takes many forms. Crisp vegetables, hearty grains, proteins that sustain. Our volunteers pack each item knowing it will land on a neighbor’s table when they need it most.   The NOURISH program is how Golden Harvest Food Bank works alongside health care providers to identify and respond to food insecurity, helping connect people to the food they need as part of their care. It began in 2020 through a partnership with an Augusta-based clinic that wanted a better way to support patients who may not have consistent access to nutritious food. The clinic introduced a [...]

Darlene at her local food pantry, the Barnwell-Bamberg Baptist Association, picking up food for herself and her two grandsons. When it comes to child food insecurity, every family’s story looks different. In many homes, the people stepping in are not parents, but grandparents doing all they can to provide stability, comfort, and full plates. Darlene is one of those grandparents. Now retired and living on a fixed income, she has spent the past nine months raising her two grandsons, ages 15 and 16. Feeding two growing teenagers is no small task, and like so many across our [...]

Kenya talks about the challenges her family faced during the government shutdown. For Kenya, every day begins the same way. Before sunrise, before quiet gives way to the sound of little feet. There’s breakfast to make, bottles to prepare, clothes to lay out. With one child in school, a baby on her hip, and another on the way, mornings in her Lincoln County home are full of motion and love. But lately, that love has been stretched thin. When the government shutdown interrupted SNAP benefits, Kenya felt the fear rise immediately. “I was looking at the pantry [...]

When the shutdown created uncertainty around essential supports for millions of Americans, one message echoed across the nation: “Go to your local food bank for help." From hurricanes to the pandemic, our team has learned how to respond quickly when crisis hits. This time was no different. Within days of the announcement, food orders were doubled, an emergency distribution plan was activated, and fourteen truckloads of food were routed to our warehouses in Augusta and Aiken. Partner fees were lifted to ensure our hunger relief network could move food freely to families in need. Views on our [...]

Left to Right: Debbie Johnson (Volunteer), Logan Ford (Director of ACTS), Linda McCollum (Volunteer) At ACTS of Aiken (Area Churches Together Serving), compassion looks like action. For 39 years, this network of more than 70 churches has been a cornerstone of care, meeting essential needs through food, clothing, transportation, and emergency assistance. But when the government shutdown disrupted SNAP benefits this fall, ACTS faced a new challenge as families who had never needed help before were suddenly at their door. “We started getting calls and emails even before the shutdown began,” said Logan Ford, Executive Director of [...]

This year, our community came together with extraordinary generosity to make It’s Spooky to Be Hungry® one of the most impactful campaigns in its 33-year history. From businesses and schools to churches, families, and first-time donors, our neighbors showed what is possible when we act together. A Transformational $1 Million Gift Golden Harvest Food Bank is honored to announce a transformational one million dollar gift from Rob and Pam Johnston that will strengthen and expand the impact of It’s Spooky to Be Hungry® over the next decade. The Johnstons have long been champions of the Aiken community and have [...]

Calvin reflects on the lasting impact the Summer Harvest program has had on his family during the summer months. At a recent food distribution at Thomson High School, Calvin and his 12-year-old daughter shared how much receiving food support through Golden Harvest's Summer Harvest program means to them during the summer months. “This helps a lot,” Calvin said. “It fills the cabinets with real food we can use. We don’t have to stress as much about how to stretch what we’ve got.” During the school year, children often rely on breakfast and lunch at school to help [...]

JROTC student volunteering at Richmond County Success Center. Volunteers filled the space each day, working side by side to sort fresh produce and pack meals for children who usually count on school lunches during the school year. To meet the increased need, we expanded volunteer shifts and turned the center into a hub of hope where neighbors came together to make a tangible difference. Thanks to that support, our Summer Harvest program packed over 180,000 meals for children at 10 schools, focusing on rural Georgia counties where Atlanta Gas Light packing Summer Harvest Boxes. access [...]