Can you lend a hand in funding for Charleston County Public Library's food programs? Your monetary donation, no matter the amount, makes a big impact in providing healthy food to people in need within our community.
For Giving Tuesday on November 28 and beyond, we’re raising funding to support our Free and Fresh Community Fridges and our After-school Food Program at the Baxter-Patrick James Island Library. We thank you in advance for your generous support of library programs. Learn more below and click the buttons to donate now.
Free and Fresh Community Fridges
The Free and Fresh Community Fridges provide distribution of free produce at three library branches in areas of food insecurity including Otranto Road Library, St. Paul’s Hollywood Library and Dart Library (this branch is temporarily under renovation). Anyone can access the fridge and no sign-up is required. The fridges are stocked once to twice a week thanks to our community partners who provide produce and from monetary donations from our community. In the off-season, monetary donations help fill the gap and help us keep the fridges stocked. We distributed 16,000 pounds of produce in fiscal year 2023.
Patrons say this program has made a difference in their lives. "I’m 72 and disabled and cannot afford to eat vegetables and fruits so this program is amazing," said one patron. Another patron shared, "this program helped me feed my children when there was nothing left to give."
After-school Food Program
Our after-school program at the Baxter-Patrick James Island Library serves snacks to kids and teens for free throughout the school year from September to June. It provides students with access to healthy food options. Last school year we served 8,537 snacks at this branch.
Kids say the love the program. "I'm usually hungry after school and we don't typically have a lot of food at home," said one student. Another student shared, "I have bad stomach issues and I have to stay in the library after school for up to three hours so their snacks are really a life saver."
