What is the Lowcountry Food Bank?

In order to give back to the community that supports me and my family, I am currently donating 20% of my photography sales to the Lowcountry Food Bank (LCFB) 

I have put together a fundraiser for the LCFB on July 28th.  It will be held in front of Earthfare in South Windermere.  Three other area artists will be joining me for this event and have agreed to give a substantial portion of their sales to the LCFB.  A representatives of the LCFB will be there to hand out information and answer your questions.  This is just in the early planning stages and I will provide more details when we get closer to the date.

So, today, I was given a tour of the LCFB facility by Ms. Hollis Tuma, Communications and Special Events Manager.  It is a wonderful facility, that I will tell you about in a future blog.  Today, I want to start out with their mission statement and quote you some very disturbing numbers.

"The mission of the Lowcountry Food bank is to feed the poor and hungry of the 10 coastal counties of South Carolina by soliciting and distributing healthy food and grocery products to nonprofit agencies serving the poor, and to educate the public about the problems of and solutions to domestic hunger."  (from LCFB literature)

A handout card published by the LCFB gives these very sad statistics about hunger in the Lowcountry:

26% of children go hungry everyday in coastal South Carolina.

54% of our clients choose between food and utilities.

We serve more than 16% of the children, families and elderly in the 10 caostal counties of South Carolina.

39% of our clients choose between food and medicine/medical care.

In future blogs I will provide more information about their facility and their wonderful programs.  Hopefully, this information will help you decide to become an hunger advocate.

Michael Kaynard is a local photographer who lives in West Ashley.  You can view his photos at http://kaynardphotography.webs.com.  He can also be reached at 843-412-2299 or at mkaynard@gmail.com.