It’s often forgotten about, tucked deep into business cul-de-sac off Center Avenue in Goose Creek. But it’s still there, as it has been for 34 years this month.
Helping Hands of Goose Creek, a nonprofit emergency assistance center and food pantry, has been helping the less fortunate locally for all those years.
Last year, the organization logged 4,457 volunteer hours and had 2,502 family visits. The facility offers food and hygiene products, boxes of food for senior citizens, budget classes and offers information on various local charities to help people in need.
And lately it seems there are more people needed the help. In 2022, they gave out 232,350 pounds of food and hygiene products.
“We noticed now the extra support from COVID for the food stamps has gone down and that has caused an increase in families coming in a needing our help,” said Jennifer Jones, executive director at Helping Hands. “And the impact from COVID is still around with the increased food prices to gas wavering back and forth and things like rent going up.”
The cost of everything has gone up, including the cost of helping people. Donations at the facility often fluctuate, depending on the time of year.
“It ebbs and flows,” said Jones.
She noted that the annual food drive by the U.S. Postal Service was a tremendous help before the pandemic, delivering up to 17,000 pounds of donated goods in a single day. The drive was canceled during the pandemic, however.
"It is back again, but what we received this year was 452 pounds," Jones said.
“The times we see the most donations are in November and December. The schools put together food drives and help us out tremendously, but it’s those times outside of the holidays,” she said.
The center serves the community year around, so they are always in need of help. The pantry warehouse shows numerous empty spots where food and hygiene products should be. The most common essentials include toilet paper, shampoo, peanut butter and any canned goods.
Another problem is there are needs everywhere in every community and one nonprofit may get help while another is depleted.
Trident United Way assists those who are dealing with hard times on where and how to get help through its 2-1-1 helpline. The agency has an office on Main Street in Moncks Corner.
Numbers from Trident United Way show that so far this year they’ve had 13,702 helpline calls, 24,286 referrals and 140,000 website visits. The common requests are for utility and housing assistance throughout the tri-county.
And all charitable organizations need the same thing. There is a business model for nonprofits like Helping Hands and it a depends on the public.
“Our recipe for success is to make sure that we have constant food and hygiene donations, monetary donations and volunteer time," Jones said. "If we are missing any of the three, then we are not able to move forward with our operation.”
Helping Hands of Goose Creek is located at 104 Commerce Place. Their number is 843-553-7132.
