LAURINBURG — Church Community Services extends help throughout the county by using Grant Dollars to purchase and deliver fresh vegetables and fruit to those in need. This Saturday, April 9th, our Coordinator of Client Services, Vince Bateman, has invited and then coordinated the delivery of over 500 boxes and some bulk delivery of Fresh Vegetables and Fruits to local churches who asked to participate in getting these items out county wide.

The boxes which will contain strawberries, Apples, Sweet Potatoes, Collards and Cabbage will be delivered to the following churches:

St. John’s UMC in Gibson (corner of Hwy 79 and St. John Church Road); St Luke UMC on Turnpike Road in Laurinburg, Trinity Presbyterian Church at 1300 Turnpike Rd in Laurinburg; Bright Hopewell Baptist Church at 601 N. Main Street in Laurinburg; Jubilee Christian Center at 25050 Nazareth Church Rd in Wagram; Old Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church at 15301 McFarland Rd, Laurinburg; and to Laurel Hill Full Gospel Church at 6840 Andrew Jackson Hwy, Laurinburg, NC.

Finally, they will be also sharing bulk items of the same as above with First UMC here in Laurinburg as the church has its monthly food bank on this same day.

Funding in the amount of $20,000 was granted to CCS by Resourceful Communities / The Conservation Fund. Resourceful Communities has awarded more than 68 M in grants awarded to community organizations 2,200 local “green” jobs supported $12 to $1 return on investment in community solutions. They engage more than 500 community and resource partners, creating environmental, economic, and social justice benefits for communities that need it most.

The fruit and vegetable boxes being delivered are being purchased with that funding from Sandhills AGInnovations (SAIC)in Ellerbee, NC. The SAIC is a project in the Sandhills Region of NC that supports farmers and expands the local farm economy. SAIC offers farmers and food businesses training; shared-use farm equipment; processing, aggregation, and storage facilities; and connections to new markets.

SAIC is led by Mr. Davon Goodwin, a local Scotland County farmer who splits his time between his own farming operation and managing SAIC.

According to Mr. Bateman, “Davon and SAIC have been a wonderful partner to assist us in getting these much-needed foods out into our community.”

“You may remember we did a similar giveaway recently at IEJ, and we’ve also been able to provide these wonderful fresh foods at our own center almost every Monday morning in March and April.”

CCS hopes to continue to offer more and more fresh items to customers by reaching out to Resourceful Communities and other funding sources.

“We are very proud of what we do offer, but we are always happy to be able to offer our client even more in the way of fresh and nutritious foods.”