Needs Statement for Stono Blessing Basket

Residents of the Sea Islands of Charleston, South Carolina, understand that there are some rankings in which no one wants to place. After all, our state ranks fifth for the deadliest hurricane in U. S. history (1893) (Geology.com) and our city ranks in the top ten deadliest earthquake locations in the nation (1886).  While some think South Carolina has been lucky the last few years when it comes to disasters, like the Bakker Family Fund, we realize that our residents have been hit by another misfortune: poverty and the resulting food insecurity.  We would rather not rank among the top 10 impoverished states (Index Mundi).

In our neighborhood between 2000 and 2010 Charleston County’s poverty rate gusted up the scale 5.0 percent to 18.7 percent, the highest rate in the Tri-County Area. While disaster-chasing photographers kept their radios tuned to NOAA and police scanners, 63,867 persons—including 7,232 seniors—in Charleston County struggled to survive, at times listening to the rumble of their own stomachs.

Some of these hold hope that a lower unemployment figure and a higher level of personal education will put an end to their gnawing hunger; however, individuals with a low-level of wealth that have crossed the threshold to retirement and fixed incomes hold no such hope. Elizabeth Hempton, a Stono Blessing Basket program organizer, noted that rising food prices eclipse the buying power of many social security checks.  She wrote, “Our clients have very little hope of ever having more than they do now, and the way things are going, they're likely to have a whole lot less before they die. …Sadly, most of our clients only come off of our food program by passing away.”

Sometimes, meeting the basic human need of food for the day is the only way to help. Stono Blessing Basket, a part of a 501(c)(3) organization, is at work providing grocery relief to Charleston County clients that are needy, aged, and/or disabled.  Throughout Johns Island and Wadmalaw Island, our Stono volunteers collect and distribute dry goods, canned goods, and fresh produce.  Volunteers have even planted, tended, and harvested gardens in order to spread their budget far. As we have faithfully met these needs in our community, our client base as begun to grow rapidly.  Our volunteers are working as hard as ever, but the needs are multiplying and we are under pressure to meet the increased demand.  We must make sure that the pantry is re-stocked even more frequently than in past years.

It is essential that we expand our team now to include others—like the Bakker Family Fund—that are committed to meeting basic human needs.  While the volunteers at Stono Blessing Basket know that many organizations are anxious to partner with those that focus on providing nutrition for children only, Stono is unwilling to exclude clients that have reached their senior years and to serve only the youth of the Coastal Community.  We are glad that the Bakker Family Fund also recognizes that basic human needs continue throughout our lives.  This type of like-mindedness is not easy to find.

We invite Bakker Family Fund to team up with us by helping us keep the pantry restocked with dry goods and canned goods through the next annual cycle of the Fund.  A $10,000 grant will increase the food pantry supply to the Coastal Area by …… and thereby supplement the sparse pantries of xxx persons of all ages that share the hardship of low-wealth.

*The application used these key phrases: basic human needs, low-wealth individuals, and Coastal Community.  I sought to repeat or reflect these phrases.

The Foundation accepts requests for work in four SC counties.  I sought to highlight the more intense need in this particular county.