The New Greenville Emergency Food Pantry

By Denise Holland
CEO, Harvest Hope Food Bank
November 13, 2013 

In 2007, under the guidance of Feeding America, Harvest Hope Food Bank saw the growing number of families and individuals struggling with hunger in the Greenville area. We realized a calling to fulfill our mission by partnering with members of the Upstate community to provide a new resource for hunger relief. There was a pressing need to put food on the tables of many households in many neighborhoods, and we knew we had to respond to this need.

From the start it was apparent that our first facility on Pelham Road could not meet the demand, but it was a foothold in our fight against hunger in the Upstate. Despite various limitations that first year we provided over 330,000 pounds of food for 11,000 individuals in Greenville and Laurens Counties. However, we knew there was much more to do and many more families that needed our assistance.

Three years later the old PYA Monarch building on White Horse Road became available to Harvest Hope. This 88,000 square foot warehouse greatly increased our storage and distribution capability, making it the largest food bank facility in South Carolina. In our first year on White Horse Road we provided over 4 million pounds of food to 133,000 individuals by working with many agency partners that today number over 100. But we found our efforts still fell short due to the lack of direct hunger relief services to those who came to our doorsteps on White Horse Road. We needed an Emergency Food Pantry (EFP).

Harvest Hope Food Bank has a 33 year history of lifting struggling families and individuals out of hunger and helping them flourish as members of the community. At our 3 other EFPs in the Midlands and PeeDee we have seen that when people seeking assistance receive 90 to 100 pounds of food they come closer to improving their current circumstances. Two out of every three people that seek assistance at these locations only come to us three times before regaining self sufficiency.

We knew our Greenville outreach required an EFP to fully serve all those in need. We are pleased to announce that with the help of many committed community partners we are opening our first Emergency Food Pantry in Greenville this month.

The capital campaign for this project has raised $1 million to retrofit our White Horse Road warehouse by creating an attached pantry on the southern end of the building. Any person in Greenville that is need of assistance to put food on their table will be able to come to this facility and receive enough food for more than a week, as well as compassionate assistance from our trained counselors.

By giving a large amount of food to each individual we will be able to provide them the time to plan and seek ways to improve their current financial situation. However, the counseling process is just as vital by connecting people with resources to address issues such as healthcare, education, employment training, and job placement among many others.

Based on the demand reported by our Greenville partner agencies, the overwhelming need along the White Horse Crescent and the numbers we see at our other South Carolina EFPs, we anticipate 200 to 300 families a day at the new Greenville Emergency Food Pantry. The capacity of the pantry will be able to serve up to 400 families each day.

On Thursday, November 21 years of planning and hard work by many people will come to fruition at the Ribbon Cutting for the new pantry. The following Monday, November 25 we will begin serving members of the community and hope that each person coming through our doors will soon realize for themselves full financial independence. We encourage the community to come out and visit our newest tool in the fight against hunger in the Upstate, and attend our Ribbon Cutting event on Thursday, November 21 at 4:30 pm at our facility at 2818 White Horse Road.

The support and assistance from the Greenville community has been vital to this effort and will continue to be in order to help each and every individual. Thank you for your ongoing partnership in the effort to provide for every member of our Greenville communities.