Golden Harvest Food Bank launches It’s Spooky to Be Hungry Drive every October, where local businesses, neighborhoods, organizations, and volunteers help raise food and funds to scare away hunger in the community. Despite recovering from the pandemic, Golden Harvest has experienced its most productive year, generating over $230,000.

For 29 years, the It’s Spooky to Be Hungry Campaign has been an exciting way for the community to work closely with the Food Bank. The drive has been a fun and interactive initiative where partners compete to raise the most food and funds through their fundraising efforts. The Spooky Campaign has been monumental for Golden Harvest in generating a large percentage of donations that help feed the local community throughout the holiday season.

One challenge Golden Harvest faces is the hunger rise stemming from the pandemic. According to Feeding America’s projections, 1 in 7 people within the Food Bank’s 11,000 square mile service area are currently struggling with hunger. The funds generated from It’s Spooky to be Hungry will be used to help close the meal gap in the Food Bank’s service area.

Golden Harvest’s goal for this year’s campaign was to raise $200,000 and they are currently at $230,000 and counting. The donated food total resulted in over 50,000 pounds of food being collected. The donations collected are expected to provide over 690,000 meals for families in the Food Bank’s 25 county service area who are struggling with hunger.

“Golden Harvest Food Bank is grateful to be linking arms with our local community in making this the most successful It’s Spooky to Be Hungry to date. We are incredibly fortunate and thankful to have such a wonderful network of dedicated people who ensured we met and exceeded our 2021 goal.,” said Amy Brietmann, President and CEO of Golden Harvest.

The overwhelming success of Spooky was due to combined efforts across the CSRA.  This year’s winning teams by category are:

Richmond County Business Winners

Small Business First Place: WFXG Fox 54 & Bailey's Comfort Services

Medium-Sized Business First Place: TaxSlayer

Large Business First Place: Rural Sourcing

Aiken County Business Winners

Small Business First Place: Cumberland Village

Medium-Sized Business First Place: ZEUS Industrial Products

Large Business First Place: SRNL

Columbia County Business Winners

Small Business First Place: DeFoor Realty

Medium-Sized Business First Place: Seigler's Karate Center

Large Business First Place: John Deere

South Carolina Neighborhood Winners

Small Neighborhood First Place: Spring Stone

Medium-Sized Neighborhood First Place: Knollwood

Large Neighborhood First Place: Women of Woodside

Georgia Neighborhood Winners

Small Neighborhood First Place: Plantation Point

Medium-Sized Neighborhood First Place: Country Place

Large Neighborhood First Place: Spring Lakes

Special Service Awards

20+ Years of Spooktacular Leadership: Teri Booth

10+ Years of Spooktacular Leadership: Keelyn Symms

Rookie of the Year: Kristen Lawhon

Outstanding Youth Leader: Kinley Wallace

Outstanding Youth Partner Winners

Aiken County Outstanding Youth Partner: Emma Poteat

Columbia County Outstanding Youth Partner: Youth Leadership of Columbia County

Richmond County Outstanding Youth Partner: Westside Navy ROTC