One Whitmire woman is proving just that.
In 1999, Janice Carter became a part of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program — RSVP — with the Newberry County Council on Aging. During the summer of 2000, she was asked to create a food pantry program in Whitmire.
“At the time, we didn’t have a food program here,” Carter said.
Carter became the Director of the Whitmire Food Pantry — also known as the Whitmire Commodities Program — and began a partnership with Harvest Hope Food Bank.
Harvest Hope serves 20 counties throughout South Carolina and its mission is “to provide for the needs of hungry people by gathering and sharing quality food with dignity, compassion and education.”
Together, the Whitmire Food Pantry and Harvest Hope conducted their first food distribution in November 2000. The program began with 50 applications, meaning food was distributed to 50 different families.
Memories from the first year of the program stirred Carter’s emotions.
“The first time I signed people up, I ended up having one application left,” Carter recalled. “An older lady came in late and I told her she was just in time because we only had one box left. She sat down, threw her hands up in the air and started praising the Lord!”
Carter found out more about the lady who was not shy with her thankfulness.
“I came to find out she was raising eight grandchildren and the only income she had was her Social Security check,” Carter said. “When I got home, I felt so humble that I had good clothes, a warm house and food to eat, I just boo-hooed. My prayer every night is that no child goes to bed hungry in Whitmire.”
Since that first year, the Whitmire Food Pantry has been consistently growing.
The most recent food distribution, which took place at noon Wednesday, fed 288 families — a total of 667 people. Eighteen new families were signed up during this month alone. Harvest Hope Food Bank delivered 501 boxes of food to the Park Street Community Center.
The official poundage of the drop: 11,388 pounds.
“Harvest hope could not hope to feed all the hungry in our service area without the help and support of people like Janice and help in rural areas,” said Harvest Hope Food Bank Communications Manager Skot Garrick. “We know South Carolina is No. 6 in the United States for unemployment and we know unemployment heavily impacts areas like Whitmire and leads a lot of people to make different decisions of how to make ends meet. We are grateful to the Whitmire Food Pantry for helping us get food to people who need it during these times.”
Carter is currently healing from extensive knee surgery and, on Wednesday, she had to take breaks to prop her leg up and ice it down. She is still as dedicated as ever to the distributions, however, even after 10 years.
“I have never missed one,” she said. “I was here on a walker in December and I’m here on a crutch with ice packs this time.”
In June 2008, Carter received a Presidential Volunteer Service Award for completing more than 4,000 hours of volunteer service. She received a personalized certificate of achievement, a congratulatory letter from President George W. Bush and an official President’s Volunteer Service Award lapel pin which she was proudly wearing Wednesday.
Carter also sang the praises of the volunteers who help with the distributions.
“They have been so good about coming in and taking over. They know just what to do,” she said. “There is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes that the people who get here at noon don’t realize. Some of the volunteers have been here setting up since 7:30 a.m.”
Carter also mentioned that representatives from Harvest Hope have said the distribution set-up at the Whitmire Food Pantry is the best in the state.
“They have sent people to observe us, and they have used Whitmire as an example when preparing guidelines for setting up a food pantry,” she said.
At the end of each distribution, any leftover food is locked in storage and distributed as needed between the bi-monthly food drops – usually 3-5 times a month.
The distributions are for Newberry County residents but those who have a Whitmire address and live in Union County are also eligible.
For more information about becoming a volunteer or submitting an application to receive commodities, contact Janice Carter at (803) 694-2762 or (803) 271-1394.
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