COLUMBIA -- Vehicles line up outside a warehouse on Shop Road, where a group of volunteers has come together for a common mission: feeding the hungry.
It's 9 a.m. on a recent Tuesday and inside the warehouse volunteers from Harvest Hope are busy stacking crates filled with food donations such as pasta, onions and potatoes. Some of the food will be picked up by the nonprofit's partner agencies, while the rest is loaded into shopping carts and wheeled outside to individuals and families waiting to receive food from the emergency food pantry.
It's not an unusual scene. On any given day, hundreds of people in Columbia and Greenville depend on the Harvest Hope's emergency pantries for food. And in recent years, those numbers have been growing, along with the need for donations.
"Because of inflation and the cost of food, the distribution centers are not sending to their retail stores as much food, and the retail stores aren't able to donate as much," said Diana Sharpe, vice president of philanthropy at Harvest Hope. "We have so many open shelves."
In addition to the food pantries, Harvest Hope works with partner agencies to deliver food donations in 20 counties across the state.
The nonprofit was started in 1981 in Columbia by two people who wanted to feed their local church. It's now the state's largest food bank.
Increases in prices and need
Between Greenville and Columbia, an average of 300 cars stop by the emergency food pantry every day. Due to limited supplies, families and individuals are limited to one pickup every 28 days.
The need for food donations has been on the rise, and inflation has also had an impact.
In 2017, the average cost of a meal in South Carolina was $2.80, according to Feeding America's meal gap map. As of 2022, that number had risen to $3.80.
According to data from Feeding America, from 2021 to 2022 the food insecure population in South Carolina increased by more than 100,000. In Richland and Lexington counties, the food insecure rate is currently 11.6 percent.
"We're having to stretch out our food even more," Sharpe said. " We're trying to supplement what they already have in their pantry or add to what they need in their pantry."
Harvest Hope has partnerships with a number of major food retailers including Walmart, Target, Food Lion, Publix, CVS, Walgreens and Aldi. The organization is also part of the Feeding America network of nonprofits and groups.
In addition to operating the emergency food shelter and working with partner agencies, the Columbia office also helps target hunger in school children.
The Columbia food pantry is open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon on Fridays.