• E-Mail
• Print
• Larger
• Smaller

Published: Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2010 / Updated: Tuesday, Jul. 27, 2010 07:24 PM

Mobile pantries will provide food for the needy in Fort Mill Township, Indian Land area

FORT MILL -- 

Starting next week, The Springs Close Foundation will provide multiple mobile food pantries in the Fort Mill area to try to fill a void.

“The Springs Close Foundation will provide five mobile pantries in the Fort Mill area,” Angie McCrae, president of the foundation, said during a press conference Tuesday morning in downtown Fort Mill. “This is going to be serving 1,500 families.”

Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, a partner in the project, is set to deliver about 75,000 pounds of food, McCrae said.

The initiative kicks off at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 3 at Fort Mil’s Steele Street Park at 600 Steele Street.

“It always excites me when we can work together with The Springs Foundation,” Kay Carter, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, said. “Over 25,000 people live in poverty. What that means is they all are at risk for hunger.”

High unemployment tied to the recession has meant an increase in the number of local residents without enough to eat every day.

“It’s feeding people,” Carter said of the mobile unit. “If there’s anything that excites me is feeding people. It’s (the mobile unit) one tool that we use to try to get to the ultimate goal to end hunger in our 19 counties.”

Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina services counties in both Carolinas, including Lancaster, York, Union, Spartanburg and Cherokee counties in South Carolina as well as Mecklenburg, Gaston, Burke, Cabarrus, Rowan and Rutherford counties in North Carolina.

Year-end figures reflect the people-helping agency distributed over 33 million pounds of food in South Carolina and North Carolina, Carter said. Of that, some 2.7 million pounds of food was distributed in York County, Carter said.

“Even though we’ve distributed 33 million pounds of food, there are still thousands and thousands of kids who are hungry,” Carter said.

That is especially true during summer months, she said.

“Children are out of school,” she said. “Those meals that kids were getting in school is suddenly not available.”

Last year, The Springs Close Foundation shifted its focus to providing funding for residents who needed basic and emergency assistance with shelter, medical assistance and food, McCrae said.

“People are hungry,” McCrae said. “They’re out of work. They’re choosing between buying food, if they have money to buy food, and medications.”

The Springs Close Foundation last October provided $50,000 that enabled Second Harvest to receive a $50,000 gift from musician Bruce Springsteen, McCrae recalled.

“The $100,000 will be used to support hunger relief,” McCrae said.

“We take for granted so much our three meals a day and our snacks,” she said. “We take for granted having a roof over our heads. There are so many people who have lost their jobs. If we can help, we need to step up and help.”

That help comes next week with the mobile pantry.

The effort is a community-based partnership with The Springs Foundation, Founders Federal Credit Union, The Town of Fort Mill, Fort Mill Care Center, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and York Electric Cooperative.