For 2024’s Organization of the year, QNotes is excited to celebrate the work of Hearts United For Good (HUG) for its annual selection.
HUG has had a very busy year of work in the Charlotte community along with areas beyond the city’s borders. According to Bethany McDonald, the executive director of HUG, while the challenges have been extraordinary, each was met through hard work and a smile.
One of the major initiatives of HUG in 2024 has been its food assistance program. According to McDonald, over 100,000 pounds of food have been distributed in this year alone.
According to the organization’s impact report, which includes the weight in total and number of bags, over 10,395 bags of groceries were given out, 12,500 adult incontinence items have been provided, and, unique to HUG and a handful of other non-profits, 30,000 diapers were distributed for families in need.
“Hearts United for Good has truly earned the honor of being named Organization of the Year,” says Chad Turner, CEO of the Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce. “Their selfless dedication to serving the most vulnerable in our community is nothing short of inspiring. They embody the spirit of compassion, doing so much with so little, and proving time and again that even in the toughest times, hope can shine through. Their unwavering commitment has been a beacon of light for those who often have nowhere else to turn, and this recognition is a testament to the profound impact they continue to make in our region.”
It’s true, HUG has been able to do much on its own, but the organization’s extended efforts lay with the partnerships it has been able to make.
“We are official partners with Second Harvest Food Bank and Stand For Animals, [both of which] help our animal welfare program,” McDonald explained. “And the diaper bank of NC, where they give us the diapers for free when we were buying them at high cost. We’re one of the only pantries that give out diapers for free.”
“We try and find low income families that have, you know, elderly family members that are in late stages of diseases like Alzheimer’s, where if hospice won’t cover the incontinence items, we take it over to them and we make sure that they’re taken care of.”
Two other major programs HUG has managed this year are the Homeless Outreach and the Animal Welfare programs. The successes of the first allowed many of the homeless population in the Charlotte area to receive over 2,300 snack bags and over 1,000 canned or covered meals. For other daily needs, HUG gave out over 150 pairs of shoes or work boots, as well as more than 300 hygiene kits and sleeping materials, such as blankets and sleeping bags.
We asked McDonald what drives her efforts to make the impact the organization does everyday. She replied, “Oh, just breathing drives me with this group!”
“What’s incredible about us is that, I know it sounds cliche, but we truly are a family,” expressed McDonald. “I recently drove back from Vermont on Monday overnight, dropped off my partner with my dog, and I came straight here because I was excited to see everyone and catch up on what they’ve done. And, you know, it’s what we do, we connect with the people directly. We’re not just a conduit or a resource center, we’re the ones that are actually working with the people. And when you get those experiences, and you get to see that, you’re not just putting band aids on things, you’re finding cures, and that’s what changes everything for us.
“You know, when people come to the food pantry line, we don’t just give them a bag of food,” she continued to explain. “We ask them questions. We want to know why they need the food, and that way we can help them to not need again. If we can help give them clothing, household items, whatever it is they need, so that they can allocate the little funding they have to more critical resources, then we’re happy to find a way to do it.
“And there’s puppies,” McDonald laughed. “We have puppies in the office sometimes. So come on, that’s a good reason to come every day. We’ve rescued or re-homed over 28 dogs this year. We’ve just been all over the place.”
On the animal side, HUG works with Stand For Animals, a local veterinary clinic that offers affordable animal care as well as spay/neuter services. Through their partnership, along with efforts to re-home dogs, HUG has also found treatment for 37 of the pups in need and were able to have 11 of them spayed or neutered. Through Second Harvest Food Bank, they’ve distributed over 5,000 pounds of food.
“We also had an office cat for a while, but we re-homed him as well,” McDonald recalled with a hint of melancholy. It’s amazing. Our intern comes in and gets really disappointed when he doesn’t see puppies,” McDonald added.
This year has been busy with activity, including the organization’s work with those affected by Hurricane Helene, but the needs have leveled off since the days of the COVID pandemic, when the call for help was as high as ever. Their continued presence in Charlotte, however, makes it clear: Needs in the region continue.
“From 2021 to now,” McDonald recalled, “we are down on cost by 95 percent, but we have upped our distribution [by] 438 percent, so that tells you somehow we found ways to make magic happen, and that’s just through partnerships.”
Along with the programs outlined on HUG’s impact report, Education and Development is a relatively new initiative that began with 2024. Currently working with five schools, according to McDonald, HUG tries to do the most for those that are “99 percent economically disadvantaged” and with “at least 97 percent minority enrollment.” McDonald herself has her boots on the ground weekly with these schools. “I tutor kids sometimes on Wednesdays and Thursdays.”
“We also proctor tests and exams, on occasion covering one school for an entire week.” McDonald included that one of the major directives was the teachers in the schools they directly sponsor. Between 200 teachers over two schools during Teacher Appreciation Week, HUG made sure to give back, handing out gift bags and flowers, along with serving breakfasts and lunches. “We know if there’s anybody that’s undervalued,” McDonald stated, “it’s teachers.”
The work that HUG has done with schools, much like the rest of their work, directly addresses the forward thinking needed for a more positive future. “If we can help these kids where they are now, then that’s one less bag of food we’ll have to hand out later,” McDonald offered. “If they have kids that need school uniforms, [or] shoes, if they have families that need food, we have a referral process, and they come right to us.”
Looking ahead to the end of 2024 and into 2025, HUG hopes to further expand what they already do in their service to other communities within reach.
McDonald immediately zeroed in on continuing the relief efforts for counties like Jackson and Buncombe. “We’re ready to shift into rebuilding. We’re gonna be there for that. We’ve got pallets upon pallets of supplies like putty, paint and things that we’ll need. We’ve got pallets of housewares, linens and things like that. So, we’ll be making sure that everybody’s got anything they need, especially in the 250 counties that we’re focused on. We’re also hoping to work with the LaMelo Ball Foundation to do sneaker drives and presentations for teens in schools that are economically disadvantaged and don’t have nice shoes. We’re hoping that we can solidify this partnership and make sure we can take care of that.”
HUG has also begun integration of an online pantry system in order to expand on feeding as many people as possible and allowing for easier access to the programs the organization already has in place.
Despite the sizable number of families and individuals HUG works with, through their continued persistence, along with partnerships from around the area, much of the non-profit’s visions are reached. From food distribution, to advocating for Charlotte’s homeless, youth and other people and animals in need, it’s easy to see why Hearts United For Good deserves QNotes’ Organization of the Year Award.
