By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
jonathan@wdnweb.com
Staff Writer
Hundreds of local people won’t go hungry this Christmas, thanks to a Washington-based aid organization.
By 1 p.m. Saturday, the Washington Community Care Coalition had distributed nearly 171 boxes of food to needy Beaufort County residents.
At one point, recipients of the care packages were lined up outside the door of the Washington Housing Authority’s offices just off Ninth Street, according to Thornton Gorham, founder and president of the WCCC.
The boxes were filled with goods including turkeys, rice, fresh and canned vegetables and more.
“They’ve been really, really satisfied and just pleased at what they have received,” said Yvonne Moore, financial secretary of the coalition.
“This has fed a good majority of our residents in Washington Housing Authority,” added Katrina Moore, a housing manager with the housing authority.
“I know that it’s been of great assistance to them, especially with the families of four or more,” Moore continued. “We’ve been able to feed a lot of those residents, and I think they’ve been very appreciative of those boxes. And then we also have our elderly residents, and we’ve been able to provide for a lot of them that are low income that may have not been able to get anything additional.”
It’s fair to say that, without the contents of the boxes, most of the beneficiaries of the food drive wouldn’t have had enough groceries to make it through the holidays, Moore agreed.
“And I think some of the elderly might not have had anything, given their income,” she said. “They are very, very appreciative of the delivery also, because (WCCC volunteers) also provide the delivery so they don’t have to come out and pick up if they don’t have the transportation.”
The volunteers do this delivery work in cooperation with the housing authority, Moore shared.
WCCC is a nonprofit entity that distributes food to needy residents of Washington and Beaufort County, including Meals on Wheels clients, the elderly and people who reside in nursing homes, Gorham related.
The coalition solicits donations through letters to churches and charitable foundations and through fundraisers, and uses the money it receives to buy food, he said.
Saturday’s distribution was an annual Christmas ritual, Gorham pointed out.
Monetary donations to the WCCC are tax deductible, the group’s website shows.
For more information, visit the website at www.washingtonccc.com, or call 252-946-3906 or 252-402-5655.
Also on hand Saturday was volunteer Coley Moore, who works with the housing authority.
“We get a great deal of pleasure helping the less fortunate,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by Doris Bailey, a coalition member who checked in the recipients.
“It’s very rewarding to watch the smiles of the people, the excitement of the people, as they walk out with these boxes,” she said.