W. Lee Flowers Company helps Harvest Hope stock its pantry

A coming fundraiser for Harvest Hope Food Bank got a substantial boost Wednesday morning.

W. Lee Flowers and Co. and IGA presented a check for $20,710.94 to Donna Lollis, Harvest Hope’s donor relations manager. The money is for Helping Our People Eat (HOPE) Now, the food bank’s annual fundraiser that will be held Sept. 20 at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology (SiMT) on the campus of Florence-Darlington Technical College.

“This is wonderful and so needed,” Lollis said. “It couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Legrand Miles, vice president of operations for W. Lee Flowers and Company, said the partnership with Harvest Hope Food Bank goes back 30 years. Based in Lake City, the wholesale grocery company supplies IGA stores and independent supermarkets across the Carolinas and Georgia. Executive Vice President Rick Geary said Wednesday that an annual golf tournament in late May raised about $105,000 for charity.

“Which was a record for us,” Geary said.

Company President Henry Johnson selects which charities benefit from the funds raised, Geary said, noting that five were picked this year.

“We try to give back to the communities where we work and live,” he said.

The HOPE Now event, Lollis said, is the largest fundraiser of the year.

“Because we can take one dollar and turn it into five meals, we’ll be able to take this (donation) and turn it into many, many meals so that will help us tremendously feed hungry people in the Pee Dee,” she said.

Denise Holland, the food bank’s chief executive officer, said there’s a critical need of canned food or financial donations that can be used to buy canned goods. Shelf-stable goods such as meats, fruits and vegetables are urgently required to replenish stock. Every month, one million meals are served by the food bank in the Pee Dee region, she said.

“While we’ve been blessed with people and businesses giving us fresh produce this summer. During the summer, our pantry has become almost bare of canned goods. Now that people are back from summer vacations and getting kids back to school, we need their help to aid families and children in need in the 20 counties we serve throughout South Carolina,” Holland said.

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 8:03 PM.