Hunger agencies reach milestones

A couple of local agencies are hitting milestones these days, and their shared missions are godsends for the less fortunate in our community.

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Columbia County Cares, the county's fast-growing food bank, on March 12 will celebrate the grand opening of its new storage building, in Appling, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. And Golden Harvest Food Bank, the granddaddy of local hunger-fighting agencies, is celebrating its 25th birthday this week.

When communities put together sales proposals for luring prospective industries and guides for attracting tourists, poverty numbers aren't part of the pitch. And in generally affluent Columbia County, those numbers can be easy to overlook.

That's what makes the missions of Columbia County Cares and Golden Harvest much more vital. Columbia County Cares Director Lou Reda, in the announcement of the new storage facility's opening, reports that the food bank routinely serves 350 families in the county - up from 50 per month when it started 10 years ago this year.

Helping meet those demands, Reda describes Golden Harvest as the "lifeline" to smaller food banks such as Columbia County Cares. Golden Harvest, through its partnership with America's Second Harvest, cooperation with local food drives and relationships with manufacturers, supplies food to agencies in 25 counties, including Columbia, at prices vastly below what those agencies could supply on their own.

In our community's efforts to promote an image of healthy affluence, the accomplishments of Columbia County Cares and Golden Harvest remind us that much different work - God's work - is still needed.