Tons of fruit and dozens of cars and trucks could be seen on the morning of August 7 at Clyburn Place, where a massive food waste event took place on the Rural Health Services campus.

Offerings came from coast to coast, including peaches from Ridge Spring and watermelons from Blackville, as well as apples from Gardners, Pennsylvania, and (for the long-distance travelers) nectarines from Kingsbury, California.

Unity Outreach Church, as per tradition, supplied many of the volunteers who helped keep traffic somewhat calm, filling their vehicles with the requested amount of goodies. Some recipients said they learned about the distribution as clinic patients, while others said they heard about it through social media or passed by the complex and saw the extra traffic.

The church, at 188 School Street in Gloverville, distributes donations three times a month, said program director Beth Schade, who represents the congregation that runs its relief effort with support from the Golden Harvest Food Bank and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We served 194 families today,” she wrote a few hours later, noting that with an average family size of three to four people, the data meant “we impacted over 700 people ages 10 to 12.”

Janmary Ruiz of RHS was also part of the fundraising team. “We try to do this once a year,” she said, calling Aug. 7 Patient Appreciation Day – a good opportunity for gifts.

“I got a lot of good responses,” said volunteer Josh Davis, a Denmark Technical College student from Wagener.

“Everyone was happy and satisfied with the amount they got and surprised at how much we actually gave them, and that was a blessing… I’ve done this several times and the response just gets better over time.”