CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Second Harvest Food Bank and Hendrick Automotive Group are springing into action.
“We’ve been doing a three-pack box model where we directly load in the people's cars," Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Kay Carter said.
Both organizations with all hands on deck to feed families still in need of this pandemic.
"We’ve been working with Hendrick around the issue of feeding children in the community since 2014," Carter said.
This year they had to switch gears to meet increased demand caused by COVID-19.
Second Harvest created its mobile food pantry eight years to safely feed families.
"That’s safer but it still gets the food to the families that need the food," Carter said.
Thanks to the help of Hendrick Automotive Group's “Hendrick Hunger Heroes” donation project, $325,000 for Second Harvest’s Food Bank was raised over a six-month period.
“And just over a million dollars nationwide," Hendrick Corporate Responsibility Senior Manager Rile Beetner said.
With that help, 250 produce boxes and 250 dry food boxes were created.
The first truckload was sent to Berryhill School.
“They were one of our first schools sponsored by Hendrick," Carter said.
One box providing at least one weeks’ worth of groceries.
“Apples, I think I saw oranges, squash, celery, peppers, it’s always a wide- variety depending on what we have in stock," Carter said.
It’s food in boxes made with love by volunteers working tirelessly to do their part.
A mural by Rick Hendrick’s granddaughter, Kate Carlson setting the stage.
“So it’s really special while we’re packing the boxes today to be able to look up and see that mural and realize that what started with a small footprint with the Hendrick family has now grown through our entire company and we are here today because of that seed that was planted all those years ago," Beetner said.
Second Harvest and Hendrick letting the community know, even as eased restrictions make things seem back to normal, they have friends in the community that still care.
“From the time it's packed, to the time it goes on the truck to the time it’s eventually handed to a family," Carter said.
Second Harvest Food Bank offers Charlotte-area companies (and employees) numerous different options on how they can design and execute their own hunger initiative program.
Wake Up Charlotte To Go is a daily news and weather podcast you can listen to so you can start your day with the team at Wake Up Charlotte.
SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts || Spotify || Stitcher || TuneIn || Google Podcasts
All of WCNC Charlotte's podcasts are free and available for both streaming and download. You can listen now on Android, iPhone, Amazon, and other internet-connected devices. Join us from North Carolina, South Carolina, or on the go anywhere.