York County Amateur Radio Society Holds Food Drive To Support Pilgrim’s Inn During COVID-19

ROCK HILL, S.C. — The York County Amateur Radio Society is holding its second food drive that benefits the Pilgrim’s Inn’s food pantry.

The food drive will take place Saturday, Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the parking lot of Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 2115 Celanese Road in Rock Hill. It will be a drive through and drop off event.

Some of the suggested items that Pilgrim’s Inn is requesting are laundry detergent, fabric softener, flour, sugar, spices, nonperishable food items, canned good, cleaning supplies and grocery store gift cards.

YCARS is hoping to build on the success of its first food drive help in April, which collected 1,300 pounds of food and $500 to help support families in need York County through Pilgrim’s Inn.

John Gendron, current President for the York County Amateur Radio Society said, “Part of the culture of Amateur Radio is service. As Amateur Radio enthusiasts and hobbyists, we serve our community by providing an alternative form or radio communication to local and state emergency management and organizations like the Red Cross in times of disaster. During pandemic disaster affecting so many people in our community and nationally, our skills as radio operators have not been required, as the communications infrastructure has been not been negatively impacted. We wanted to find another way to serve the community and help those in need. The economic impact of this pandemic has been devastating to many families. Unemployment coupled with shortages of supplies has created a high demand on local food banks. Normally the first Saturday of October we put on the “Rock Hill Hamfest,” which brings amateurs from the tri-state area to Rock Hill for a swap meet, presentations on amateur radio and a chance to socialize in person with other operators. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to cancel our biggest fundraising event. We felt sponsoring and holding food drives would be a safe and effective way to help relieve some of the negative impact and keep our club engaged. It is our privilege to be working with a great humanitarian organization, like Pilgrim’s Inn. We would like to thank
Aldersgate United Methodist Church for hosting the drive though and drop off of supplies for this event.”

York County’s poverty level was just over 12 percent before the pandemic, meaning approximately 33,700 of the 275,000 people in York County live below the poverty line.

It more than likely has increased since the pandemic forced the shutdown of many small businesses and caused many to lose their jobs.

YCARS has set a goal of collecting 2,000 pounds of food and $1,000 to help York County families in need.

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