Dale Wilson (far right), Little River’s trust board chairman, with a few of the many dedicated volunteers who support the United Christian Ministries of Abbeville County food pantry.
Operation Round Up is a voluntary program through which Little River members agree to allow the co-op to round their electric bill up to the next whole dollar. Members contribute an average of about $6 per year. ORU funds assist co-op members facing emergencies such as house fires, unexpected medical expenses and other setbacks. A volunteer trust board carefully considers all applications for aid.
Not only does the program help individuals, it also helps local agencies such as food banks, Meals on Wheels, programs for children, and many others. As one of its ongoing projects, the trust board has held canned food drives at Little River’s annual meetings to support local food pantries for many years. In lieu of canned goods this past year, ORU was able to send monetary donations to six food banks in Little River’s service area. Thanks to our members for their overwhelming donations, more people were helped than in previous years across three counties.
United Christian Ministries of Abbeville County (UCMAC) is just one of several pantries ORU has had the pleasure of partnering with. UCMAC’s pantry has been serving the county 11 years.
“With two locations, Abbeville and Calhoun Falls, along with two other branches of the organization, free medical clinic and emergency assistance program, they rely heavily on churches, individual donations and programs like Operation Round Up,” says Bill Boone, UCMAC executive director.
“In 2020, the two pantries distributed food boxes to 2,297 families (4,261 individuals), for a total of 97,097 pounds of staple foods. We are very blessed to have local grocery stores and organizations that donate and the generous financial contributions from our community. We’re equally blessed with prayers and great volunteers. God is great,” says Boone.
To donate, please contact UCMAC at P.O. Box 502, Abbeville, SC 29620 or ucmacfmc@wctel.net. To apply for assistance, please apply in person at Main St. Methodist Church, Abbeville.
