WADESBORO — Members of Harvest Ministries Outreach Center donned face-masks and gloves this past Easter Sunday in order to safely help families in need as part of their Drive-Thru Grocery Give-A-Way. There was even an appearance by the Easter Bunny who waved at children while practicing social distancing.
“Easter is always a big day to do outreach for us,” explained Steve Adams, Lead Pastor at Harvest Ministries. “Myself and a couple of others at the church put our heads together to figure out what we could do in these crazy times to help our community. Last week or so I had the idea of the Drive-Thru Grocery Give-A-Way and it all came together”
“We put some feelers on Facebook to try and have people donate,” said Adams. “A group from Waxhaw, Kingdom Citizens Outreach Ministry, they reached out to us and they came and dropped off some canned goods and non-perishables. Word kind of spread and it became a huge event.”
Along with the food, monetary donations were also collected. “You are awesome,” said Adams in a Facebook post addressed to his congregation. “In a few short hours, you all contributed $847 to assist with the ‘Drive-Thru” Easter Grocery Give-a-Way!’ We cannot thank you enough for your generosity and heart to serve families!”
Cars began lining up in the Harvest Ministries parking lot at 9 a.m. on Easter and would eventually stretch out from the parking lot down to Highway 74. The event was supposed to last from 12 p.m. until 2 p.m. but, by 12:45 p.m., they were out of everything. “You could see the need was great. It was just a tremendous day,” said Adams.
The staff and volunteers practiced social distancing at the event. Folks remained in their car and were asked to pop their trunk, which was then loaded with non-perishable food items as well as Easter Baskets for the children. Approximately 300 families were served.
Individuals wishing to donate or volunteer at events like the Drive-Thru Grocery Give-A-Way can visit the Harvest Ministries website at www.harvestmin.com or reach out to them on social media. “Our plan is, because there was such a response, that we will do events like this on a more continual basis. There will be a need for more people to partner with us,” said Adams.
“You see the spirit of the community when something like this is going on,” said Adams. “People just rally together and we were just grateful to be a part of it. A tremendous outpouring of love was shown and we are going to continue to do it as long as we are able.”
