Family Focus: Charlotte Rescue Mission encourages donating to a local food pantry

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Each year, Channel 9 puts together 9 Food Drive to collect food for local food pantries and organizations such as the Second Harvest Food Bank and the Charlotte Rescue Mission.

Charlotte Rescue Mission receives about 20 percent of its food from the Second Harvest Food Bank.

The Rescue Mission helps those struggling with addiction and poverty. Ohenrico battled addiction and spent his life on the streets until he arrived at the Rescue Mission. Here, he received three meals a day and any necessary help he needed.

“Probably the most important thing at the time when I first came through those doors was to get a hot meal,” Blake said.

Now, Blake runs the kitchen at Charlotte Rescue Mission, the place that helped turn his life around. Blake said he and his staff serve about 135 each day, seven days a week.

Joseph Smith, who also received addiction help from the Rescue Mission, works in the kitchen with Blake. He is asking everyone to count their blessings – and to dig into their pantries.

“Donating something like food can help us in so many ways because we can utilize it in some many ways,” Smith said. “Giving in charity is very important in life.”

Cox Media Group