Monday, Jan. 25, 2010

No cap on Myrtle Beach area kindness

Horry County experiences an outpouring of goodwill

Many Horry County charities are experiencing a boom in donations despite the community's recent outpouring of support for victims of the earthquake in Haiti and to help build an "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" home in Horry County.

The boost for local charities comes at a time when donations traditionally decline for area nonprofits.

Several area agencies now will be able to stock their shelves with food from the Extreme canned food drive held in conjunction with a home makeover that benefited the family of Derrick and Amanda Suggs. The food drive began Dec.28 and ended last week. It exceeded the United Way of Horry County's 100-ton goal. The Suggs family arrived home last week to see their new home in Longs for the first time.

"In this community, I have nothing but high praise for individuals and businesses. They are very, very generous,'' said Nancy Gambone, co-director at the Community Kitchen of Myrtle Beach. "We're very fortunate here."

Food collected during the food drive will provide an estimated 156,503 meals and will be distributed to more than 20 local agencies, organizers said.

"We're real excited and grateful," Gambone said. "It should be wonderful for us."

Community Kitchen officials will start picking up the food this week, Gambone said.

Adrian Weatherwax, director of Helping Hand of Myrtle Beach, said "I guess the folks of Horry County came through despite Haiti." She said that typically direct donations to her agency virtually stop this time of year. "There's a pretty remarkable bunch of people in this county."

Myrtle Beach Helping Hand officials picked up five bins of food from the Lowcountry Food Bank's warehouse in Myrtle Beach on Wednesday and expect to go back for more, Weatherwax said.

"There's more there for us," she said. "The food has exceeded what we normally get this time of year. With the number of people who have come to the agency since the holidays, we would have shortly run out of food. [The food drive has] been a godsend to all the local charities."

Barb Mains, director for Help 4 Kids and Backpack Buddies, also said the extra food will make up for the usual, seasonal lack of donations. Officials picked up two trailers of food Wednesday from the food drive.

"January and February are the worst months with people in need because of seasonal work, lay-offs and the lack of donations," Mains said. "This food will last us for two or three months. It's a wonderful thing."

The food will also help the Horry County Council on Aging stock cabinets and shelves at the homes of shut-in senior citizens, and hopefully enough will be left over for a small emergency stock at county senior centers for others in need, said executive director Ray Fontaine.

Other agencies, such as the local chapter of the Red Cross, have been positively affected in other ways.

The ideas of donating or volunteering for the earthquake victims in Haiti have generated so much interest locally that Red Cross officials scheduled three volunteer orientations for prospective helpers, said Angela Nicholas, chief executive officer of the Coastal South Carolina Chapter of the American Red Cross.

The next and last orientation session is from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Red Cross' Myrtle Beach headquarters, 2795 Pampas Drive. Additional sessions will be scheduled later at the Georgetown Service Center, Red Cross officials said.

For nonprofits such as the Boys & Girls Club of the Grand Strand and the Horry County Literacy Council, it's too soon to tell what impact, if any, the push to help Haiti quake victims and the "Extreme Makeover" home might have, said Don Hall, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Grand Strand, and Pat Bush, executive director at the Horry County Literacy Council.

But at the Salvation Army of Horry County, warehouse donations are down significantly, said Capt. Susan McElroy.

"Usually at the end of the year we are inundated with donations, so it would be odd that our shelves are empty," said McElroy about the agency's thrift stores, particularly the shop in Conway.

She said the agency - which helped served drinks and snacks to the workers for "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" - is in need of furniture and household items. Clothing donations, McElroy said, are still pretty steady.

She said she is optimistic the community will support the agency as it has in the past. "Our hearts are with the people in Haiti, as well," McElroy said. "We know there are people in need there. There also are local needs."