Hearts United for Good (HUG) Executive Director Bethany McDonald is excited. You can tell by the look on her face as she whips a recently donated forklift around the new storage area for the non-profit organization.
Dedicated to assisting individuals and families with essential resources, the organization provides food, home furnishings, pet assistance and toys for children to residents in need in the Charlotte Metro area.
In addition to the hand truck McDonald seems to be having fun with and the new space, HUG is also the beneficiary of $60,000 from various private individuals to cover rental costs for their new location in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood.
Previously located on North Tryon Street, HUG has seen much change over the past few years.
Starting this month, they’re now in their new home near the corner of Central and Hawthorne. In a conversation with Qnotes, McDonald explained the reason behind the recent move.
“The landlord sold the building. Part of it is going to be demolished. And I believe that’s for the city’s greenway, but it depends on if you ask the owners or the property manager,” she chuckled.
“They gave us a couple of months to find a good place and make the move. That area was getting really bad. We got robbed for the sixth time in that very spot so it was amicable.”
The change of address has led to a change of available space and some of the services they are offering.
“It’s a double edged sword, I guess I would say, but mostly on the good side, McDonald explained. “We’re not able to do the one night, pantry night anymore because we don’t have the luxury of the huge parking lot that we had at our last place.
“We were the only tenants in a 300,000 ft building,” she continued. “So there was plenty of space for shipping, storage and parking. We were giving away 700 bags every Wednesday night within an hour and a half time frame. It was a lot of volunteers and a lot of chaos, but the good kind.”
McDonald is enthusiastic that the new address has led to a largely positive change in direction.
“The new place has allowed us to switch to an appointment model, which is easier for us, it’s easier on volunteers and it’s much easier for our clients, because they don’t have to sit in line for two to three hours at a time.”
HUG has done its best to provide for our community and many others in need throughout the Charlotte Metro area. Individual donors, entrepreneurs and other organizations have returned the favor through donations to HUG.
Along with dry goods, they’re also able to offer cold and frozen foods. “We were lucky enough to get a partnership with Second Harvest last year,” McDonald explained.
“It was last year in July, I believe, we were finally accepted. We’ve been trying to get in as a beneficiary with them and be an official partner for about four years, but because we didn’t collect the required data they wanted and we didn’t want to change our model, I mean that’s what makes us, you know? If you’re a human being and you’re hungry, we’re going to feed you regardless. And we didn’t want to change our model. We find the people that nobody else takes care of and the people who fall through the cracks. So we wanted to stick to our guns and to our principles.
“Eventually we kind of came together and they saw what we were doing and the impact we were making, so we partnered together. It helps so much our cost is down by about 95% so it’s incredible.”
Currently HUG is serving upwards of 1,200 individuals and families with food assistance and homeless outreach combined.
“I don’t think we’ll see an increase in the number of people we’re helping because of the relocation,” McDonald offered. “But I do think our new neighborhood is going to be great for volunteers. Plaza Midwood is a very philanthropic community, so we’re really hoping to get more people on board to help with the people that we’re already helping.”
For more information visit the Hearts United for Good website at https://www.hugclt.org/.