Food Lion to distribute care packages for kids this weekend

Food Lion will distribute more than 30,000 meals this weekend to Columbia children facing hunger this summer as part of its Food Lion Feeds program.

The distribution, which is being held in conjunction with Harvest Hope Food Bank, will be at Bethlehem Baptist Church’s Wiley Kennedy Life Center in north Columbia and will target the surrounding communities.

The packages will include a mix of fresh produce, grains, proteins and other items.

The goal is to serve 650 children.

Food Lion Feeds also is providing Harvest Hope $2,500 for its BackPack program. The program provides seven child-friendly meals for children to take home from school each Friday. During the school year, children who qualify for the free or reduced breakfast and lunch program have access to nutritious meals.

Scholarship fund honors Charleston church shooting victims

Allen University in Columbia has created a scholarship fund to honor three alumni killed at Charleston’s historic Emanuel AME Church last month.

The Allen University alumni include Daniel Lee Simmons, Jr., a 1967 social science major from Mullins; Sen. Clementa Pinckney, a 1995 business administration major from Ridgeland; and Tywanza Sanders, a 2014 business administration major from Charleston.

The scholarship, called the Simmons, Pinckney and Sanders Allen University Scholarship Fund, is intended to help Allen University continue its legacy of developing leaders who make a difference in their communities where they live and work.

To learn more about Allen University or to make a donation to the fund, visit www.AllenUniversity.edu/support.

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 7:12 PM.