Ruth’s Harvest

IMG_4111This outreach effort focuses on hunger in our community. For some boys and girls, their free/reduced breakfast and lunch at school are the only meals they have for the day. When they are not in school on the weekends, they are at risk of not having any meals, and weekend food is not healthy food.

Ruth’s Harvest, a free ministry of the Hanover Area Council of Churches, provides healthy meals and snacks for the weekend for eligible elementary children. The food is distributed at school. Each Friday, students who participate receive a backpack of food for the weekend. On Monday, the child returns the empty backpack to the school to be restocked with food for the following Friday.

September 2013 was the first year of the program. Students at Hanover Elementary were targeted since that was the school with the greatest need. Because of the generosity of the people of Hanover and beyond, 40,000 meals were served in just that one school! Because the program was received so overwhelmingly, for this second year, 2014-15, it has been expanded to the other two elementary schools in the Hanover Borough. This brings the grand total of backpacks provided every Friday to the children of Hanover Borough to 349!

Serving three schools is a huge undertaking for our community. Financial donations as well as donations of food, are welcomed and essential.

Ruth’s Harvest needs volunteers to pack and deliver backpacks on a weekly basis. Food donations are received through participating churches. Financial donations can be mailed to Hanover Area Council of Churches, 136 Carlisle Street, P.O. Box 1561, Hanover, PA 17331, or through a participating church.  ‘Ruth’s Harvest’ should be written in the check memo line.

For more information about Ruth’s Harvest, please contact HACC Operations Manager at 717-633-6353.

Ruth’s Harvest also needs donation of food in INDIVIDUAL serving sizes that need NO refrigeration such as:

V-8 Juice or 100% Orange Juice; Chicken, Ham, or Tuna salad cans or kits; Single-serving Peanut Butter; Single-serving Teddy Grahams, Animal Crackers, Goldfish; Fruit Cups, Canned Fruit, Roll-ups, Pudding; Canned & cup individual-sized Ravioli, Soup, Stews, Chili; Canned single-serving Vegetables; Microwave Popcorn;   Pouched Fruit Drinks; Non-refrigerated Milk.

The need of this outreach effort is constant.

For more info, visit the Ruth’s Harvest website.