ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) Its been nearly 3 weeks since the deadly mass shooting in York County where 6 people were killed at the home of well-known Dr. Robert Lesslie.
You may remember the community was asked to bring canned goods to a prayer vigil in honor of the Lesslie Family’s two grandchildren who lost their lives in the shooting, Adah and Noah.
Those donations were given to The Manna House Pantry in Rock Hill which provides food to more than 200 families per week. Dr. Lesslie was a board member at the pantry since 2017.
Vice President of the Manna House Pantry, Harold Aubert says 2,800 pounds of food was donated to the pantry from the community vigil.
He says Dr. Lesslie began volunteering with the Manna House Pantry as soon as he had the chance.
Aubert says Dr. Lesslie started volunteering along with his wife, Barbara after his church, First Rock Hill ARP and Harold’s church, Mount Prospect Baptist formed a partnership back in 2017.
“When he got on board he started looking at the greater need for people who don’t have the right nutrition and food to eat. He said have you ever thought about doing diabetes checks, cholesterol checks, blood pressure checks”, says Aubert.
Aubert says Dr. Lesslie would periodically give free medical check-ups to those coming in to get food. He was even planning to renovate a room at the Manna House Pantry for his medical office to help more clients.
Aubert says he and the other volunteers piggybacked off of Dr. Lesslie’s ideas by offering recipes for healthy cooking options. Aubert says they would even have clients share with them how they lost weight because of a healthier diet.
Aubert adds, right beside Dr. Lesslie would be Barbara also volunteering as well as their daughter n law.
“She would come up and give the biggest hug and would talk about her grandkids and kids”, says Aubert.
Aubert says they have a big void at the pantry and Dr. Lesslie’s shoes will be hard to fill but he knows Dr. Lesslie would want the pantry to move forward.
He is asking anyone who would like to donate to visit https://themannahousepantry.org/
A family spokesperson for the Lesslie’s says the program “Just Joy” which is the Special Needs ministry at First Rock Hill ARP Church also accepted donations for the Manna House Food Pantry when the group met last week in memory of the Lesslie’s.
