Zonta Club of Myrtle Beach supports low income families during the COVID-19 outbreak

When COVID-19 closed down schools and nearly everything else, it caused many families—already of low-income and with few resources—to search far and wide for food.

The suspension of Horry County’s School Meal Program has been the worst of all. Without buyers for farm products such as grocery stores, restaurants and schools, farmers have started to dump milk and their produce.

This is a big deal because agriculture is South Carolina’s top-grossing industry. One major grocery store stepped up and started to buy most of its produce from the farmers, while another grocery store opened a Mobile Grocery store to bring food to neighborhoods.

In Horry County, where COVID-19 is rampant, Coastal Carolina University began to set up a food donation-distribution project. With help from CCU Professor Dr. Deborah Breede, The Zonta Club of Myrtle Beach became engaged in this project. Dr. Breede is a member of the Zonta Club of Myrtle Beach.

Zonta Club of Myrtle Beach might be small in number, but community engagement is a big deal for all our members. So, we came together to see a way to help.

As of last week, the club had donated a dozen boxes of food pallets to service organizations CAP and Good Shepherd, donated along with the food pallets were frozen meats for both (a special request from both of these organizations who serve hot meals every day). The club also ran a pallet of diapers to Help4Kids/ Backpack Buddies and gave $300 cash to these organizations.