CHAPIN, S.C. — A Chapin outreach center is asking for help to restock their food pantry.
The Chapin We Care Center is a community interfaith outreach center located off of Chapin Road. Alecia Klauk, the executive director for the center, says they've been serving the community for more than 33 years.
"We're best known for our food pantry and that's with good reason," said Klauk. "Last year we moved almost $1.2 million worth of food out of this building."
Besides food, the center also helps with utility assistance. Last year, the Chapin We Care Center helped with $95,000 of utilities.
There's many other programs the center has during the year to help people in the Chapin, White Rock, and lower Newberry County. The organization serves based on income from the federal poverty guideline.
"We're incredibly thankful for all the new things we were able to add last year. We started a mobile pantry going up into more northern regions of Newberry County to take food into places where it's needed the most," explained Klauk. "We also just launched this week our scholarship for programs and clients and their families so that we can provide some resourcing for academic or certification programs or trade programs."
Every month, the center serves about 800 people. This month, they've seen an increase and have already seen over a thousand people.
With the increase ion the number of people they've seen, the food pantry's shelves are starting to become empty.
"Our shelves are bare and we're in desperate need of food," said Klauk. "Our inventory compared to this time last year and the year before that is very low."
During Christmas, the center is closed and clients have been waiting for the organization to open back up. With the weather being as cold as it is, it also has drived up the their client's utilities cost.
The outreach center is asking for items such as grits, tuna, jam, jelly, pancake mix, syrup, vienna sausages, chili, chili beans, spaghettio's, canned peas, canned collard greens, and chunky soup.
The Chapin We Care Center is also asking for cleaning products, especially laundry and dish soap, toiletries, and paper products like toilet paper and paper towels.
"A lot of our clients would not eat if we were not here. The need is desperate and so we are their lifeline and we cannot do it alone," said Klauk.
The executive director says Chapin is always faithful and comes through whenever they need help. A lot of businesses in the area step to the plate to help when they can.
"I hope people are motivated to want to give," said Klauk. "There's so much blessing that we enjoy and to be able to share that with our neighbors is such an important thing."
If you would like to drop off donations, you can come to their collection box at 18000 Chapin Road. The center also says area churches, Chapin Town Hall, the Chapin Library, Crooked Creek Park, Chapin Pharmacy, Coldwell Banker, and other local businesses will be accepting donations as well.