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Without food, Good Neighbor Cupboard in Anderson closes temporarily
Photo by Ken Ruinard
Volunteers and workers, from left; Kyle Kohlhoff, Norm Kohlhoff, Nellie Johnson, and Tommy Lockridge stock shelves at the Good Neighbor Cupboard in Anderson after Golden Harvest donated a truckload of non-perishable goods Wednesday. The shelves were empty since last Friday until the donation came in.
Photo by Ken Ruinard
Volunteers and worker, from left; Ott Reed, Tommy Lockridge, Kyle Kohlhoff, and Norm Kohlhoff stock shelves at the Good Neighbor Cupboard in Anderson after Golden Harvest donated a truckload of non-perishable goods Wednesday. The shelves were empty since last Friday until the donation came in.
Photo by Ken Ruinard
Nellie Johnson of Anderson stocks shelves at the Good Neighbor Cupboard in Anderson after Golden Harvest donated a truckload of non-perishable goods Wednesday.
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ANDERSON — For the first time in 27 years, Good Neighbor Cupboard shut its doors because it had no food.
A delivery on Wednesday from Golden Harvest will help, but volunteers with the organization estimate that will last only two weeks, if that long. The charity, at 313 S. Tower St., closed on Friday and reopens today.
A double-whammy of increased demand and decreased donations is preventing the food bank from being able to serve all the people who come for aid.
“It’s a trying time,” said Good Neighbor Cupboard Executive Director Otto Reed. “Sometimes to listen the their stories, it just makes you cry. They’re just destitute.”
Reed said families are coming to the food bank after having not eaten in two or three days. And more of them are coming than ever before.
“Last year, we served 5,784 people,” said Floyd Berry, president of the non-profit organization. “This year, we served more than 1,500 just in the month of July. That’s almost a third of what we did all last year.”
Layoffs, the economy and soaring prices are to blame he said.
“Some of them come here because they lost their jobs last year and their unemployment benefits are running out,” he said. “It used to be we’d ask them if they were looking for work and they’d say nothing’s out there and we’d tell them to go to Burger King or McDonald’s. But now, they say they’ve got applications in at McDonald’s and even they aren’t hiring.”
Berry estimates that the food bank serves between 30 and 40 families a day.
Thanks to a donation by NewSpring Church to the Cupboard’s account with Golden Harvest, an organization that helps stock food pantries like Good Neighbor Cupboard, and from Bi-Lo, the Cupboard will be able to open and serve families again.
But Berry estimates the food won’t last long.
What is needed is more donations from the community, he said. Grits, peanut butter and jelly, pork and beans, cereal and other canned goods can go a long way to helping out families in need, he said. They also need can openers, he said.
It’s a tough time for everyone, he said.
“Several churches give us a few donations every few weeks,” he said. “But not as many as we used to get. Individuals are having a tough time too, and they aren’t giving as much.”
To make donations to the cupboard, contact them at 224-1701. Donations of food and money are welcome, Berry said.
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Sadly, it is a sign of the times. There was a time when a box was put in the school classrooms and children were asked to 'anonomously' drop something in the box and when it was as full as the teacher thought it was going to get it would go to the school office to be collected by a charity group, same with used clothing. Now you see people out in their fine, new cars going to feed there already oversized bodies at the one hundred and one restaurants around Anderson and they could care less if someone else is going hungry that night. A lot of people would say, "well, they brought it on themselves, they should have saved for a rainy day". That is not always the case and who are we to sit and judge who should receive help when they need it. The old morals and values of compassion and helpfulness have been replaced with suspicion and greed. People just don't look beyond their own noses anymore and no amount of professing to be a Christian and giving to the church fund can make up for what we as human beings should be feeling for our fellow man. So come on Anderson, take 'theflash' advice and step up to the plate(no pun intended) and show people you are one of those who care!
It's getting rough. First the Free Clinic stops taking new patients and now the Good Neighbor Cupboard is in trouble. I hope AIM (Anderson Interfaith Ministries) holds up. A lot of churches, individuals, and volunteers support it.
We need to take all non-perishable foods we can there and those that grow crops can donate too. The dollar type stores always have a lot of canned goods and I have bought large boxes of cereal cheap at Aldi's.
We could gather up all the doggy bags from Economic Development and Joey Preston's lavish eating and drinking. That would make a small contribution to the problem. I know some families whose food budget for a month is less than a one night stay at the high dollar hotels Joey and his "friends" stay in.
Let's do more than talk. I am contributing $100 today to Good Neighbor Cupboard. How about it FLASH,HERENOW,NIBLITS. Ya'll write everyday about solving problems. The challenge is will you do something to help solve this problem.
Just check you own cabinets or cupboards, you may have a can of something you can spare. If we all donated one can or one box of dry goods, I'll bet we could fill up the Good Neighbor Cupboard. But, I also know that missionary work in other parts of the world are winning people to the saving grace of Jesus. Problem is, here in America, people seem to have forgotten about salvation.
in response to CindyRoper
Please stick to the subject and not use this as a platform for your political opinions. Read the rules above please. I will be suggesting removal of your comment. Anyone who feels the same please do so also.
Thank You!
A large percentage of our community can be considered "the working poor." You can't qualify for aid but you can't make ends meet. Be compassionate and donate,BE RESPONSIBLE AND VOTE. Look at the Bush administration and evaluate your life-are you better now then you were 8 years ago? We have a $9 trillion dollar national debt and the so called liberal media doesn't talk about it. It is only going to be worse before it is better. Foreign Countries own 25% of the US Treasury securities. We have bigger fish to fry then Joey and Cindy!
Thank you Flash. The rest of you quit the blame game and answer my challenge. Let's help these folks out.
I'll be donating, either cash or canned goods, maybe both.
I'm On board with you flash and newsdog. I'll be shopping tonight at Sam's. I work out of town so much it's hard to keep up with our needs in Anderson and I wish I could get more involved. I am going to make that a goal of mine to try to give more to our community here and help take care of our own.
While I'm on my way there to make my donation, i'm going to be calling my council member and asking them whether or not they are going to make any donations to Golden Harvest. Last council meeting, Golden Harvest came before council and asked for support/money from the county so that it could help area charities - like AIM and Good Neighbor Cupboard.
They ignored golden harvests plea, but were happy to get into a giving war from their "recreation" accounts to support the BalloonFest.
I think it's up to us to make sure they put that tax money where WE want it to go. I'm all for going down there and taking them food and money, but I think our tax dollars ought to support all the people in Anderson County, not just a wealthy few.
Why dont the high schools have a food drive tomorrow night at the football game. WESTSIDE VERSES HANNA
I wish this was announced on Friday when they closed or even the day before. I will get donations there ASAP.
It is wonderful to see folks getting involved to help when the time calls for it! Kudos to all of you who feel such a strong and real calling to help out!
I'll be pulling some things from my cabinets and picking up some more items over the weekend. Moreover, I have decided that, since I open my fishing shop up on Thursdays and Fridays, ALL my profits from fishing tackle sales today and tomorrow will go to Good Neighbor Cupboard. Mind you, I don't do a big business in fishing tackle sales, but I figure whatever little bit of profits I get today and tomorrow might help Good Neighbor out some.
I've also contacted a few folks and figured since I am here today and tomorrow all day from about 9 am til about 5 pm, I'll be happy to let some folks drop off some canned and other foods as mentioned in this article, and I'll be taking it to Good Neighbor on Monday.
Again, thanks to all the good people who have decided to get involved in a positive manner in order to help out in the community, instead of being one of the constantly whining negative gripers that are simply interested in their own selfish agendas.
Kudos to the good people!
Plain.
Simple.
Common Sense.
Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)
in response to jacketsfan76
Posted by jacketsfan76 on August 28, 2008 at 8:59 a.m.
"Please stick to the subject and not use this as a platform..."
Ditto.
Thanks, jacketsfan76!
Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)
OK now this is more like it. This is what this forum should be used for. Helping folks. Even if you are not posting you can help too. Get involved. It feels good.
in response to newsdog
I think that is a grand idea newsdog. I shall be in Anderson the week of September 16th and DO intend to go by and make a monetary donation to the food cupboard. Thanks for suggesting it. All the other suggestions I have made, alas, I have no way to actively help or change, sorry. I am only here in the US until the end of the year and then I return to Australia. BTW I was born in Anderson and have benefited many times in my youth from these types of charities because I had a father who walked off and left my mother and her six children, aged at that time from 14 months to 12 years. My mother did washing and ironing for people to buy us food and clothes. Been there done that and now intend to do the same to try to help others.
if the government of the usa would take of its people like the way here-now government takes care of its people the problem woulnt be so bad. but no our government rather give to other countries like africa iraq and to many others to list while our people have to rob beg and steal to eat. so who is to blame. there are to many unneeds getting in and using the system tha people who are truly needy cant get the food or medical they need.
I have just gotten word that the County Administrator, Joey Preston, has announced that the Nance Dolly Camp #6, at the center of the BalloonFest activities will be collecting canned and other non-perishable foods starting tomorrow and throughout the entire BalloonFest. Additionally, there will be a food collection drive on Sunday at the Gate where folks will go through for the Free Concert and Fireworks on Sunday night.
It is great to see the community get involved in something so positive as that of helping the Good Neighbor Cupboard!
I already emptied my kitchen cabinets and got a couple of bags of food readied to drop off at the BalloonFest tomorrow night!
Plain.
Simple.
Common Sense.
Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)
in response to cwilson4
Don't put me in the same category as you all. I never said Preston did ANYTHING. It wasn't about the administrator, but about the council having a chance to do something to, and that WE can make a difference by asking them to pony up.
I am going to Sam's tomorrow and I am going to buy some things to donate, but where is the Good Neighbor Cupboard? I don't know where Tower St. is. I need landmarks lol. Thanks!
pink_rfc,
If you are going to Sam's tomorrow to pick up some food to give to Good Neighbor Cupboard, you can just drop it off at the center of the BalloonFest grounds at the Nance Dolly Camp #6 tent. They'll be taking in food to take to Good Neighbor.
I'll be taking some things to drop off at the BalloonFest tomorrow for Good Neighbor Cupboard.
Good Neighbor Cupboard will be closed on Monday, since it is a holiday, but the County Administrator will make arrangements to get the food collected at the BalloonFest to the Good Neighbor Cupboard folks.
Just think of how wonderful it would be if everyone that attends the BalloonFest this weekend took at least a bag full of non-perishable groceries to drop off while there!
Again, Kudos to newsdog, flash, pink, and all the good people of Anderson County for such positive involvement to help!
Plain.
Simple.
Common Sense.
Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)
in response to cwilson4
The ADMINISITRATOR did NO such thing!!! he didn't TELL the council members to do that, they did it on their own. He didn't TELL them to not support Golden Harvest... at least not at the meeting... Jeez! Do you even GO to the meetings, or do you just wait to gooble up whatever scraps of hogwash that everyone else feeds you?
Or do you just sit there and make stuff up, hoping at least some of the poo you fling will stick to the wall?
Mom2two, been to Caters lake lately?? A little too obvious!!!
..
in response to waiting
keep waiting baby, i ain't taking the bait...
i attend the meetings. apparently, not the same ones you do. what i see is a man who sits calmly through personal attacks and the diatribes of the insane and vengeful.
i'm just getting sick of all the attacks on people who are just trying to do what they think is best for the county.
Remember, once these people are out of office, they will have the freedom to find people and sue them for libel and slander... and the funny thing about libel and slander is that they don't have to prove something is untrue, the defendants have to prove that something IS true. I think we can ALL agree that this is just plain malicious.
I certainly hope you all have your little ducks in a row and have all your proof lined up. It's going to be fun to watch.
Oh, wait... let me guess... now I'm one of Joey's imaginary mistresses or a member of his red army, a bunch of commies invading the shores of Anderson, infiltrating truth and justice at the deepest level, and the county pays me to type this.
Way to go, Joe (McCarthy, that is)!
in response to jacketsfan76
I am on subject and that is my opinion. Just because you don't like it, doesn't qualify it for removal. I am going to remind everyone every time that Joey Preston said, "I AM THE MAN!" He said he is the top dog for this county and is responsible for everything. So I will continue to remind the voters everytime people in this county suffer in any way...whose fault it is.
VOTE NO TO THE PENNY TAX UNTIL WE HAVE SOME ANSWERS ABOUT HOW OUR MONEY IS BEING SPENT!!!
in response to Capt_Leo
Wouldn't guess in a million years you are running for office. You sound like the Pharisees and Herodians who tested Jesus. Might I suggest Mark 12:41-44 as your guidance for your "donations". Charity is best in private rather than at the largest gathering you can find.
in response to mom2two
Awwwww for cryin' out loud. You better bone up on your defamation law. First of all, the proof is lined up thigh deep and will be exposed by the proper authorities at the proper time. What kind of thinking believes Preston spent over a million dollars protecting principle? All you have to do is take a close look at any one project ie the Honea Path city hall/ community room/ county senior center pay center room/ pavillion/ whatever else you want to call it. Preston at his worst/best? Combinations of Transportation budget money, penny tax budget money, Preston County money, private donations, grants and who knows what else...all for a little "renovation." None of which anyone can or will conclusively explain. I'm fed up with all the double talk nonsense from Preston. I agree with many, he should be sued under the RICO Act. If he wants to play hard ball about his contract, let's up the ante.
If anyone loses their job over any malfeasance in office, I doubt seriously they would be able to win ANY lawsuit claiming their reputation was impugned by anyone else's actions.
i still can't believe that some members of our county council would rather give $22,000 of our tax money to a festival than to starving people in their own community.
I do not know who pushed for the Balloonfest-but I LOVE having the balloons in Anderson. Thank you to whoever brought it here. I would love more participation but regardless there are pilots and fans spending money in our town. The citizens of Anderson County benefit with the beautiful balloons!
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