News and Events

Third Quarter Report

Happy Fall Y'all!

As the temperatures are still almost 90 degrees here today, it is hard to imagine that Fall is right around the corner.  It is one of our favorite times of the year!  Who doesn't love hot apple cider by a roaring fire?  (maybe not today ;)).  

Even this simple Fall activity is a nicety that the people we serve will not be able to enjoy.  Did you know that over 40% of the population in Madison County lives below the poverty level.  Generational poverty here is at an all time high as this area has now become an accessible "resort" area.  While there are many who have vacation homes here, the people who have lived on this land for generations are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.  80% of the children who live in the county are food insecure (which is a nice way of saying they don't know where their next meal is coming from.)  Thankfully, this school year has brought both free breakfast and free lunch availability to every student in the county!  What a blessing!!  But what happens on the weekends or when school is out for a holiday or on break?  That is where The Lord's Harvest is able to help!  

Still serving with our guiding principal of Matthew 25 to feed the hungry; help the widow, and doing so in Jesus' name, The Lord's Harvest is getting food into the hands of those who are most vulnerable:  the children, the widows, our veterans, and the homebound (those who live at home with no means of transportation).  Now serving over 1,000 families a month beginning September 2023, we are working to help make a difference in hunger in Madison County.  

Summer is almost gone, gardens are drying up, and some of the food that has served as a staple over the summer is no longer available.  Our food boxes contain some of the essentials of nutrition and we are so honored to be able to help and we NEED YOUR HELP!

Everyone is feeling the pinch of our economy, but none more than those who must choose between rent and utilities or food; it isn't hard to figure out where the budget has to go and who goes without.  During this time of economic crunch, The Lord's Harvest is feeling the pinch in monetary donations; donations are down.  We want to continue to serve and our director Bill, feels called to serve "the least of these".  Would you be willing to help?

Perhaps you would consider a monthly gift which will be used together with other monthly gifts or perhaps you would consider a one time gift. Your gifts are used to buy food and to make deliveries into remote, rural areas of our county that are not served by any other organization!  Donations are the backbone of The Lord's Harvest and food bought with your gifts are a blessing to those who do not have the basic necessities of life.  We would be honored to have you walk alongside us to help support the mission of The Lord's Harvest.  And we are humbly grateful for your support, prayers, and love.

If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to:    The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey Street, Mars Hill, NC 28754 or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button.

The Lord's Harvest is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and all gifts are tax deductible!  

And as always, we are so very thankful for you!  May God bless you!

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

“And the King answered the, ‘When you cared for one of the least of these, my little ones, my true brothers and sisters, you demonstrated love for me.’” Matthew 25:40.

 First Quarter Report

The first quarter has flown by and The Lord’s Harvest has been busy at work continuing to provide food to those who are hungry in Madison and surrounding counties. There have been some changes since our last report and we want to tell you all about how God is working to provide.

At the beginning of the year, MANNA Foodbank (an affiliate of Feeding America) made changes to their policies. 1)The Lord’s Harvest would no longer be allowed to “sub distribute”. This meant we could no longer take food to sites who would then take it out to folks in need in their communities, and 2) every person who touched food from start to finish would have to be food certified. For us, that meant over 150 people would have had to be food certified: these changes were not realistically attainable.

After much prayer, we sadly ended our partnership with MANNA with a plan to find alternative sources to provide staple foods while we continued to provide potatoes, pinto beans, rice and onion boxes. Ingeniously, our director, Bill Welsch, met with the manager of our local grocery and had worked out a plan to purchase staple foods when the company moved the manager and brought in someone who was unwilling to help. Bill then met with Performance Food (the company who supplies most of our potatoes, pinto beans, rice, and onions) to see how they could help. While we are still in the process of working out details, we believe we will be able to get some staple food items from this source and Bill will continue to search for potential sources for staple foods but continuing to provide potatoes, rice, pinto beans, and onion boxes.

While we were able to get staple foods for a more reasonable price from MANNA, our best case scenario for staple foods going forward will be “at cost”. As we continue to weigh our possibilities, we believe God is still at work through The Lord’s Harvest. And we are continuing to serve over 750 families each month while working with many of our partner agencies.

These changes, as well as the rising costs of food, come at a cost. Once again we come to you asking for your help. Will you consider partnering with us to help continue this ministry to feed those who are hungry in Madison County? Perhaps you would consider a monthly gift which will be used together with the monthly gifts of others to allow us to budget what can be afforded on a monthly basis; or perhaps you would consider a one time gift which would allow us to make additional staple food purchases which will provide much needed additional foods. However you might consider a gift, we want you to know that we are humbly grateful and very appreciative of your support, prayers, and love. If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to:    The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey Street, Mars Hill, NC 28754

or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button. As always, our focus remains on children, senior adults, veterans and those who are homebound. Won’t you help? Again, our most humble thanks! May God bless you!

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

“And the King answered the, ‘When you cared for one of the least of these, my little ones, my true brothers and sisters, you demonstrated love for me.’” Matthew 25:40.

2022 Year End Report

What a difference a year makes!  Last year at this time, Bill was getting home from his SIXTH hospital stay, (including open heart surgery)(with another stay just around the corner).  We are delighted to report that Bill is doing very well. He IS truly a walking miracle; and we have all of YOU to thank for his miracle.  It was the faithful prayers of friends and family, led by our prayer ministry team leaders, Kevin and Recy Barnette, that has sustained us and brought us through a tumultuous eighteen months an, without whose faithful prayer support, The Lord’s Harvest would not exist.  We have felt your love, prayers, and support and feel so blessed! THANK YOU! We’d love to have you join us in praying for The Lord’s Harvest in 2023!

So what did all of this mean for The Lord’s Harvest?  During Bill’s hospitalization, Willie Romero from Bright Hope Laurel United Methodist Church, Tommy Justus from Mars Hill Baptist Church and other volunteers (including Bonner Scholars from Mars Hill University) worked overtime to get food to people.  All of our partner agencies have continued to do a marvelous job serving the people in their communities and we could not have distributed food to these outlying communities without their faithful volunteer teams. It has been a blessing to see how people have helped insure the mission of The Lord’s Harvest continues!  We give thanks for all our volunteers (especially a marvelous team from New Life Church in Asheville)! 

As Bill gained strength, he slowly began making his way back to “full speed ahead” and that is where we are today! And today 794 families are being served every single month with our focus remaining on children and their families, who often go without food each evening, as well as senior adults, and veterans (who often choose between housing, utilities, medicine or food, with food being the clear loser) and those who are homebound (no reliable/ physical way to get food other than it being brought to them).  It truly is our honor to serve those who are in need in our community and county!

FACTS: (Even with reduced deliveries)

During 2022 we distributed:

• 66,060 pounds of potatoes

• 29,196 pounds of beans (pinto, black, navy, kidney)

•    7,299 pounds of rice

• 17,799 pounds of onions

•   5,427 pounds of meat

• 121,745 pounds of staple foods

That equals      247,526 pounds of food !!!

To seventeen distribution points, monthly – namely:

1. Bethel Baptist Church 

2. Center Community Center (Senior Adult feeding site)

3. Ebbs Chapel Community Building  

4. Flat Creek Baptist Church                                        

5. Forks of Ivy Baptist Church             

6. The Hot Springs Community

7. Hot Springs Salvation Army            

8. Ivy Ridge Apartments

9. Keystone Federal Housing               

10. Laurel Branch Baptist Church

11. Laurel Fire Department (serving Laurel, Chapel Hill, and Spillcorn communities)

12. Madison County Community Services (Senior Adults feeding site)

13. Mount Pleasant Baptist Church

14. Hot Springs Community Center (Senior Adult feeding site)

15. Revere Community Center (Senior Adult feeding site)

16. Spring Creek Nutritional Site (Senior Adult feeding site)

17. Walnut Creek Community Center (Senior Adult feeding site) 

Totaling 794 families monthly

We received three grants this year from:

*The Robin P. Bradbury Family Trust                                                             *North Carolina Community Foundation                                                                                                                   *Patriot Military Family Foundation

These grants totaled $10,000! 

We also held a fundraiser on Giving Tuesday which generated $12,000!  These grants and gifts, along with the many faithful friends who give monthly and those who made a one-time donation is what sustains this ministry.  We are thankful for every gift and every donor!

As always, we welcome your support!  Please consider giving to help “the least of these in Madison County, NC.”  Donations are needed and appreciated; volunteers are always welcome!  Would you consider making a financial contribution to The Lord’s Harvest in the New Year providing monthly (or even one time) support?!

Now, more than ever, the hunger situation in Madison County is critical.  With ever- increasing food, housing, utility, and fuel costs, more people than ever are food insecure.  The Lord’s Harvest is providing life giving food and a life-line to folks who are struggling to make ends meet. Our focus remains on children, senior adults, veterans and those who are homebound.  If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to:    The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey Street, Mars Hill, NC 28754

or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button. Again, our thanks!  We truly do give thanks for each one of you.  May God bless you!  Wishing us all a happy, healthy New Year!
                                                   To God be the glory,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

Midyear Report 2022

We are so happy to announce that our Director, Bill Welsch, is gaining strength and momentum and is back leading The Lord’s Harvest! Hallelujah! Last week Bill saw several doctors and all marveled that he a truly a miracle man! While Bill is currently still on oxygen, the progress he has made would not have been possible without the prayers of prayer warriors all over the world led by our prayer ministry team, Kevin and Recy Barnette and the healing hands of God. We invite you to join us in praying that Bill will be off oxygen soon!

As things are returning to normal, we can’t say thank you enough to our Board Chair, Willie Romero, Board member Chuck Phifer, Mars Hill Baptist Church pastor Tommy Justus, several members of Mars Hill Baptist Church, and a HOST of other volunteers who kept the ministry going through Bill’s year long season of health issues.

Since the beginning of the year, The Lord’s Harvest has continued to serve multiple communities throughout Madison County with staple food boxes. Deliveries going to outlying fire stations, churches and community buildings have continued on a biweekly basis. Our faithful community partners have continued to serve their communities faithfully with the love of Jesus in their hearts! We could not be more thankful for a wonderful volunteer base and the time, energy and financial resources they have put forth to help deliveries continue!

In June, The Lord’s Harvest resumed the availability of produce boxes. More and more distribution points are coming along side to receive both boxes again. What a blessing to those who receive these boxes!

We were excited to welcome Westover Church from Greensboro, NC the third week in June. This wonderful group of rising 9th graders and their leaders provided much needed help with several much needed projects during their week long stay. Our staple food box packing area has been revamped and is even more accessible for packing. Thank you to all our friends (new and old) from Westover! WELL DONE!

As we emerge from the valley of the shadow of death, we can relate to the story of the phoenix; rising from the ashes of what evil meant for harm, God has turned to good. We give thanks to the awesome God we serve! The Lord’s Harvest will move forward serving our communities in good faith with care and compassion and the love of Jesus. Above all, as we share these boxes of food, we will continue to share the love of Jesus and plant seeds of that love into the hearts of those who receive them. The prayer of our hearts is that Jesus Christ is proclaimed and praised.

Now, more than ever, the hunger situation in Madison County is critical.  With ever-increasing food and fuel costs and overall cost of living increases, more people than ever are food insecure here.  The Lord’s Harvest is providing life giving food and a life-line to folks who are struggling to make ends meet with our focus remaining on children, senior adults, veterans and those who are homebound.  We welcome your help. If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to: 

The Lord’s Harvest

911 Bailey Street

Mars Hill, NC 28754

or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button. Again, our thanks!  We could not do what we do without your generous donations and prayers. We truly do give thanks for each one of you.  May God bless you all.

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

2021 Year End Report

What a year!  We have been so blessed by volunteers who have given of their time, money and prayers to support The Lord’s Harvest! 

The year began innocently enough: we had worked out an excellent plan and we were working the plan well when Bill slipped on the ice in February and broke three ribs.  Many people stepped up to help during those six weeks and operations did not suffer.  He rehabbed well and was back to work as usual in Mid-March.  Everything was running like a well-oiled machine until he was involved in an accident while making a food delivery to Spring Creek.  A vehicle pulled across in front him in a 55 MPH zone and Bill could not stop.  It happened so quickly and unfortunately, both drivers were injured.  Bill had four broken ribs, a bruised lung, and a broken bone in his shoulder.  Once again, people came forward to volunteer and continue to get food into the hands of those who need it throughout Madison County. After an eight week recovery, Bill was back to work - full speed ahead.  On July 27th, Bill was diagnosed with COVID (even though fully vaccinated).  He spent the next six weeks hospitalized; fighting for his life.  From his long hospitalization, he developed MRSA.  While undergoing treatment, he had a heart attack.  A routine catheterization unknowingly “nicked” the right coronary artery which caused a pseudo-aneurysm which grew to the size of a softball which caused another heart event which required a very serious 9 ½ hour open heart surgery. After two more weeks in the hospital, Bill went to rehabilitation and was released to come home on November 12 after being hospitalized for 159 days! WHAT A YEAR!

Miraculously, and to the credit to our Board Chair, Willie Romero and our Mars Hill University Bonner Scholar, Kristina Dixon, families were still able to receive food during Bill’s hospitalization!   Many people came together to help pack food boxes, load trailers and trucks for delivery, and unload MANNA food bank deliveries.  Distribution point volunteers sacrificially made trips to our central packing location at Mars Hill Baptist Church to pick up food for their clients!  Church members from several congregations in the area made deliveries, loaded trucks, unloaded trucks, sorted food, packed food and defensive line team members of the Mars Hill university Football team under the leadership of Board Member and defensive line coach, Chuck Phifer, spent countless hours offering physical manpower to get the job done.  Bonner Scholars and members of the Social Work department (under the leadership of Kristina Dixon) volunteered additional hours to help pack and sort food.  It was a blessing to see how people worked to ensure the mission of The Lord’s Harvest continued!

The Lord’s Harvest continues to focus on feeding children and their families, who often go without food each evening, as well as Senior Adults and veterans who usually must choose between housing, utilities, medicine and food; with food being the clear loser.  This year, we began an initiative to focus on those who are homebound (persons who do not have transportation and cannot leave their home).  Over 280 individuals have been identified (the forecast was originally 150) for this initiative - all whom are senior adults and/or veterans.  This new ministry is life-giving.

 FACTS: (Even with reduced deliveries)
During 2021 we distributed:

- 187,000 pounds of potatoes
- 10,000 pounds of pinto beans
- 10,000 pounds of black beans
- 10,000 pounds of rice
- 3,000 pounds of onions
- 152,500 pounds of staple foods
- 10,000 pounds frozen meat

Totaling 381,500 pounds of food!!!!

To fifteen distribution points, monthly – namely:
-Bethel Baptist Church
-Center Community Center (a feeding site for Senior Adults)

-Ebbs Chapel Community Building 
-Forks of Ivy Missionary Baptist Church 
-Hot Springs Community
-Keystone Federal Housing Ministries (Gray, TN)
-Laurel Branch Baptist Church

-Laurel Fire Department (serving Laurel, Chapel Hill and Spillcorn Communities)

-Madison County Transportation 

-Middle Fork Baptist Church

-Revere Community Center
-Spring Creek Fire Department 
-Spring Creek Nutritional Site
-Spring Creek United Methodist Church

-Walnut Creek Community Center 

Totaling 700 families monthly

We received four large grants this year specifically related to COVID relief from: 

·      The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina

·      Dogwood Health Trust

·      Livingston College Pandemic Reimbursement Fund

·      Pisgah Health Foundation

We also received grants from: 

·      Community Foundation of Florida

·      McCaleb Family Foundation Fund

·      Patriot Military Family Foundation

These grants totaled $102,000!  

We also held a matching grant fundraiser on Giving Tuesday which generated $8,000!  These grants and gifts, along with the many faithful friends who give on a monthly basis and those who made a one-time donation has been what has sustained this ministry through a very challenging year.  We are thankful for every gift and every donor!! (No gift is too small!)

We are also very thankful for our praying friends and family, and especially our prayer team ministry leaders, Kevin and Recy Barnette, without whose faithful prayer support The Lord’s Harvest would not exist.  The prayers they (and others) lifted for our director on a daily basis during Bill’s hospitalizations, sustained both Bill and Sharon and brought our Heavenly Father’s healing and mercy!  Won’t you join us in praying for The Lord’s Harvest in 2022?

As always, we welcome your support!  Please consider giving to help “the least of these in Madison County, NC.”  Donations are needed and appreciated and volunteers are always welcome!  Would you consider making a financial contribution to The Lord’s Harvest in the New Year providing monthly (or even one time) support of The Lord's Harvest in 2022! 

Now, more than ever, the hunger situation in Madison County is critical.  With ever- increasing food costs and job loss, more people than ever are food insecure here.  The Lord’s Harvest is providing life giving food and a life-line to folks who are struggling to make ends meet with our focus remaining on children, senior adults, veterans and those who are homebound.  If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to: 

The Lord’s Harvest

911 Bailey Street

Mars Hill, NC 28754

or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button. Again, our thanks!  We truly do give thanks for each one of you.  May God bless you!  Wishing us all a happier, healthier New Year!

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

WHAT A YEAR

Since our last update so much has happened. Our Director, Bill Welsch was hospitalized with COVID complications on July 31. (Yes, he WAS vaccinated.) After several days in the Critical Care unit, he went home with oxygen only to be called back to the hospital with a MRSA diagnosis. He was treated and released only to have MRSA return with a vengeance attacking his spine at T4-6 in both the bone and discs. He was sent to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem for a higher level of medical intervention. While there, he had a heart attack; most likely related to COVID. A catheterization was done in which they determined that he did not have significant damage to his heart. Five days after being released, he was taken by ambulance to Mission Hospital in Asheville with another cardiac event. He was admitted with complications from a pseudo-aneurysm. After significant discussion among the cardiac staff, Bill underwent a 9 1/2 hour open heart surgery to remove a softball size aneurysm from his coronary artery. He was released one week later and is currently doing rehabilitation at a local Rehabilitation center in Asheville. The plan is for him to go home, for the first time in basically 102 days this coming Friday (November 12). We are really looking forward to having him home again and to his SLOWLY resuming his normal activities as his health will allow.

Bill has greatly missed being with his Lord’s Harvest family. He would MUCH rather have been with all of our volunteers and those we serve during the past three and 1/2 months. He looks forward to being able to spend time catching up with our friends and all the Lord’s Harvest family!

You might ask ; “So, what has been happening with hunger relief in Madison County in the meantime?” We can proudly answer….You cannot believe how people have come together to continue to serve those who are hungry. Under the leadership of our Bonner Scholar from Mars Hill University, Kristina Dixon, volunteers have stepped up to pack food boxes. With expert organization, Lord’s Harvest Board Chair, Willie Romero, has organized site leaders to come and pick up food from a centralized location so that food is STILL getting to those who are in need in our partner communities! Community partners have sacrificially made a trip to pick up the food boxes that will be distributed in their communities. Board Member and Mars Hill University Defensive Line Coach, Chuck Phifer, has brought defensive line players to help load boxes for transport for community partners AND unloaded thousands of pounds of food to be packed! It is UNBELIEVABLE what has transpired and we could not be more proud of the effort each person has put forth and the comradely of the volunteers and their dedication to make sure food is getting out to those in need of food! THANK YOU, Volunteers!!!!

As we have continued to serve our communities, the Lord’s Harvest continues to need financial support. We are sure you have already seen the retail stores offering Black Friday sales and Amazon and other online retailers are reminding you of the deals you can get on Cyber Monday. As you think about giving gifts during the holiday season, won’t you consider making a donation to The Lord’s Harvest. Giving Tuesday is November 30. We would LOVE to have you join us in supporting The Lord’s Harvest. Your donations help us purchase food for those who are hungry in Madison County. These donations are critical to our ministry. We appreciate your consideration of this request!

As you know, monetary donations keep our ministry going. We are also appreciative of those who lift us up in prayer. We cannot thank those of you enough who have prayed for Bill during his health crises! We are also so very thankful for all those who have faithfully prayed for The Lord’s Harvest! Our hearts are full with gratitude and praise!

If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to: 
The Lord’s Harvest
911 Bailey Street
Mars Hill, NC 28754
or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button.  To volunteer, contact Sharon Welsch at (828)776-6099.  The Lord’s Harvest welcomes individual volunteers or you may volunteer as a family or a group. Please consider how YOU can make a difference.

Again, we send our most sincere thanks!  We truly do give thanks for each one of you.  May God bless you!  

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge.

PS

Another way you can contribute to The Lord's Harvest is by connecting to Amazon Smile. Lord S Harvest for the Hungry, Inc. (please notice the spelling and spacing) is one of the designated charities that receives a small percentage of qualified purchases and it doesn’t cost you anything. This is an easy way to help The Lord’s Harvest; or you might consider doing a Facebook fundraiser!

A Year of Blessings

Many people say, "I am so glad that 2020 is finally behind us".  We have said that, too, for many reasons.  It is so nice to be out and about without masks and to be able to see the smiling faces of those whom we serve!  It has been wonderful to give and receive hugs and share fellowship with loved ones and friends and our community partners.  These gifts are things that perhaps we had taken for granted before COVID-19 took them away.  Never again!  What joy we have witnessed in the communities we are serving all over Madison County.  The warmth of people far and near has exuded in the last month and most especially as people learned that Bill was involved in an accident while taking a delivery to our Spring Creek Community on May 21.  

As Bill was traveling towards Marshall, on his way to Spring Creek, a truck pulled across Bill's lane from the left lane right in front of him.  He was not able to stop the truck and trailer and hit the other vehicle going 55 miles per hour (the speed limit).  Both Bill and the other driver survived the accident (thanks be to God) but both vehicles and the trailer were totaled.  Both drivers were hospitalized with injuries but both are now home - praise the Lord!  That either of these men survived this wreck is truly a miracle.  God was with them!  Bill suffered four broken ribs, a bruised lung, a broken bone above the rotator cuff and pneumonia set in as a result of his injuries but he is

doing well and almost out of his mandatory restrictions not to lift more than five pounds.  He is chomping at the bit to get back to making those deliveries!

The amazing thing is that we have never stopped getting food to those we serve because our volunteers stepped in to come and get the food for their communities.  People from all over Madison County came with trailers and trucks and vans to pick up food so that it could still get out into the community they serve!  St, Andrews Catholic Church sent a group of volunteers to pack on Mondays!  New Life Church in Asheville not only sent a group one Tuesday in June (they will return in July and August), one of their members worked to give us a small grant from their company to purchase food!  It has truly been amazing to see the work of the Lord continue in such beautiful and fruitful ways!  We are very thankful for all our awesome volunteers!

Another blessing we received was a visit by the eighth grade youth group from Westover Church in High Point, NC.  Westover has been coming to this area and working with the Lord's Harvest for six years!  This group came and worked Monday through Thursday last week packing boxes, packing beans and rice and loading boxes onto trucks for deliveries!  We are very grateful for their help and are always excited to have them join us.  During their week here, fourteen of their young people made a decision to make Jesus the Lord of their lives!  We couldn't be more pleased about the wonderful decisions that were made as well as the seeds that were planted in the hearts of all those who came to serve our communities!  Thank you, Westover!

On Sunday, June 27, our director, Bill (Willy) Welsch, was ordained to the gospel ministry.  And Bill puts it, he has felt the call of God on his life for many years but he always found an excuse not to answer.  Working in the communities he has worked in and sharing in the lives of all those who we serve, finding out about their lives and praying with them encouraged him to answer God's call upon his life.  He does not know what the Lord has in store for him in the future, but he plans to use his gifts and talents to serve God faithfully and fully, encouraging those who are downtrodden, sharing the love of Jesus through the giving of food boxes and offering up prayers to anyone who has a request or need and being there in times of difficulty.  What a blessing he will be to the people we serve!

NEW MINISTRY. . . even during this crazy busy, crazy health time, The Lord's Harvest brought a new ministry to life and we are very excited to share it with YOU.  So many of the people whom The Lord's Harvest serves are homebound.  Basically this is someone who is a senior adult who cannot get out of the house; perhaps is unable to drive or may have medical issues that limits their mobility.  Many of our senior adults have to choose between food and living necessities and must pay rent or utilities or for medicine with nothing left for food.  Sadly, many of our senior adults go hungry. Through this new initiative, The Lord's Harvest is reaching out to our community partners to enable them to get food into the hands of this vulnerable population.  Our volunteers have begun taking food to those in their community who can't get to them; they are being the hands and feet of Jesus to those who are struggling with food insecurity!  Yet another wonderful blessing!

All of these blessings are a testimony to the power and love of God who continues to provide through dear friends, family and complete strangers who have learned about the work we are doing!   We welcome YOUR support!  Won't you consider volunteering your time or making a donation to help “the least of these.”  Volunteers are always welcome and donations are needed and greatly appreciated!  Why not consider making a one time financial contribution to The Lord’s Harvest or join us by giving monthly (or other ongoing donations) to support The Lord's Harvest!?!

 If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to: 
The Lord’s Harvest
911 Bailey Street
Mars Hill, NC 28754
or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button.  To volunteer, contact Sharon Welsch at (828)776-6099.  Again, we send our most sincere thanks!  We truly do give thanks for each one of you.  May God bless you!  

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge.

PS

Another way you can contribute to The Lord's Harvest is by connecting to Amazon Smile. Lord S Harvest for the Hungry, Inc. (please notice the spelling and spacing) is one of the designated charities that receives a small percentage of qualified purchases and it doesn’t cost you anything. This is an easy way to help The Lord’s Harvest; or you might consider doing a Facebook fundraiser! Last month we received $565 from a Facebook fundraiser!!!! Woo Hoo!

For more ways you can become involved, please contact Bill Welsch @ (828)808-5002. The Lord’s Harvest welcomes individual volunteers or you may volunteer as a family or a group. Please consider how YOU can make a difference.

A WORD FROM OUR DIRECTOR - Bill Welsch

Ten Years! That is how long we have been serving the people of Madison County through The Lord’s Harvest. It all started in 2011 when Executive Director, William (a.k.a. Bill or Willy) Welsch sat down at his computer one day and began writing to friends he had served with over his career in the United States Army telling them about the extreme poverty and lack of nutritious food in Madison County. Having grown up as a farm boy, he longed to get back to the land and spend time out in God’s green creation and what naturally flowed from this thought was how he might help people. His background in Special Operations led him to finding a solution to hunger for those who are in the second most food insecure county in North Carolina. Over the years it has evolved into the incredibly well oiled machine known as The Lord’s Harvest. Because of the generous donations of many with whom he served and others who have shared financially over the years, The Lord’s Harvest came into being. We could not be where we are today without the sacrificial giving of many of those who give. One example of this kind of sacrifice is the story of a woman who met Bill in the parking lot at Ingles Grocery Store one day. She saw the sign on the truck and came up to him telling him that she had been a recipient of our food boxes that had helped her and her small family be able to survive during a particularly difficult time for them financially. While she still did not have much, she placed a $5 bill in his hands, telling him it was all she had and she had planned to use it for her lunch that day but instead wanted to give it to The Lord’s Harvest to help others who might be in a similar situation. That $5 bill hangs in our barn as a reminder of the sacrifices many make to help this ministry help those who are hungry

Starting our eleventh year, Bill now makes weekly trips all over the county, delivering food into pocket communities that do not have a food pantry or a grocery store within an hours drive so that local Fire Stations, Community Organizations and Churches can provide food to their communities with the help of a host of community volunteers. Bill’s favorite days are the ones where he gets to be out with the people he serves, be it our volunteers or those who are receiving the food, and talking with them and really getting to know them on a deeper level.

When asked what he dreams for The Lord’s Harvest, Bill said he is looking forward to the day that the ministry will move into the building that has been graciously given for our use, so that we can streamline the work which will make every aspect of the ministry more efficient. (This will hopefully take place this summer!). If he could dream cast for the future, he would love to see these smaller pocket communities take ownership of the food ministry in their community. He can see this beginning to take shape even now. “People in this county really do want to take care of one another.”, he said. “In our current culture, we spend too much time arguing about who should do what and who deserves to be blessed by a food ministry. If we would focus on being good stewards of our resources and do what we are called to do, God will sort it out. We are called to share what we have with others. Because we cannot walk in the shoes of another person, we don’t know what it is like for them to face day in and day out hunger. We have no way of knowing that kind of influence we have had on the lives of those whom have been helped through The Lord’s Harvest.” Bill is still in the business of planting seeds; (even if they aren’t physically in God’s green creation). He is planting seeds instead for eternity. We invite you to plant them with us! Whether it be through a financial commitment, a one time monetary gift, the gift of your time and energy as a volunteer or your prayer support, we ask that you prayerfully consider how God might be calling you to give to The Lord’s Harvest.

April is Volunteer Month and we could not be more thankful for the host of volunteers that help make The Lord’s Harvest. From Community Leaders to Church congregation to individuals and groups, we are truly thankful for all those who volunteer, many on a weekly basis! We have people of all ages who give of their time and energy to pack boxes, sort food, label bags for products that must be divided, pray daily, load trucks, unload trucks, open their distribution point for those in need, and deliver food into their community to homebound members! “We are teaching people of all ages to love their neighbor,” Bill said. Won’t YOU consider joining us?

As always, we welcome your support!  Won't you consider giving to help “the least of these.”  Volunteers are always welcome and donations are needed and appreciated!  Why not consider making a one time financial contribution to The Lord’s Harvest or join us by giving monthly (or other ongoing donations) to support The Lord's Harvest in 2021! How thankful we are!

Continuing to love our neighbors with thanksgiving in our hearts! And Serving HIM!

Bill and Sharon

END OF THE YEAR REPORT 2020

What an amazing year we have had at The Lord’s Harvest! Many, many people have donated time, talents and money to help us have another record-breaking year.  As innocently as the year began, we were making plans to start up a new initiative to help the 70% of children in our county who go hungry every night.  In early March we met with Madison County Superintendent, Will Hoffman, school guidance counselors and friends, Michelle and Chad Bradley who are also very concerned about childhood hunger, to begin formulating a plan.  A week later, the School Board contacted us to see how quickly we could get the program in place!  One week later, we were working with the schools to provide food to 80+ students and their families on a weekly basis.  Forty weeks later, this number has risen to 1,500 families per month.  This plan came together just as the pandemic began to break upon our country.  Because of relationships Director Bill Welsch was able to form, The Lord's Harvest has provided potatoes, pinto beans, black beans, rice, and onions along with a staple food box and a package of frozen meat weekly to 350 families (1500 families a month) in Madison County.  We continue to feed not only children and their families, who often go without food each evening, but also to Senior Adults and veterans who usually must choose between housing, utilities, medicine and food; with food being the clear loser.

 During 2020 we distributed:

- 150,000 pounds of potatoes
- 22,000 pounds of pinto beans
- 15,000 pounds of black beans
- 11,000 pounds of rice
- 5,000 pounds of cornmeal

-38,000 pounds of onions

-198,000 pounds of staple foods

-10,000 pounds of frozen meat

Totaling almost 450,000 pounds of food!!!!

To sixteen distribution points, monthly – namely:
-Bethel Baptist Church
-Center Community Center (a feeding site for Senior Adults)

-Ebbs Chapel Community Building 
-Forks of Ivy Missionary Baptist Church
-Hot Springs Salvation Army Point
-Hot Springs Community
-Keystone Federal Housing Ministries (Gray, TN)
-Laurel Branch Baptist Church

-Laurel Fire Department (serving Laurel, Chapel Hill and Spillcorn Communities)

-Madison County Transportation (delivering food to homebound senior adults throughout Madison County)
-Mars Hill Fire Department (Annex)

-Middle Fork Baptist Church

-ROAR (an organization working for social justice located in the Marshall Community)
-Spring Creek Fire Department 
-Spring Creek Nutritional Site
-Spring Creek United Methodist Church

Totaling 1,500 families monthly

We were blessed to receive two large grants this year specifically related to COVID relief from: 

·      The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina

·      The Conversation Fund.

·      We also received grants from: 

·      Aldi 

·      Community Foundation of Florida

·      Dattilo Family Foundation, Inc.

·      Fidelity Charitable

·      Food Lion

·      Joint Services Special Operations Fund, Inc.

·      Madison County High School FFA

·      Madison County Schools CFWNC Grant – (specifically to purchase food from MANNA Food Bank)

·      MANNA Food Bank COVID-19 Grant

·      McCaleb Family Foundation Fund

·      Patriot Military Family Foundation

·      Robin P. Bradbury Family Trust

·      Tim Tebow Foundation, Inc.

·      US Charitable Gift Trust

These grants totaled $110,000!  

We also held a matching grant fundraiser on Giving Tuesday which generated $8,000!  These grants, along with the many faithful friends who give on a monthly basis and those who made a one-time donation has been what has sustained this ministry through a very difficult year.  How thankful we are for every gift and every donor!! (No gift is too small!)

We are also very thankful for our praying friends and family without whose faithful prayer support The Lord’s Harvest would not exist.  Please do pray for us!   

As always, we welcome your support!  Won't you consider giving to help “the least of these.”  Volunteers are always welcome and donations are needed and appreciated!  Why not consider making a financial contribution to The Lord’s Harvest before the end of the year or join us by providing monthly (or even one time) support of The Lord's Harvest in 2021! As an extra benefit, because of COVID-19 there are new tax advantages for your donations to charities in 2020:

• If you take the standard deduction on your tax return you can also deduct an additional $300 to $600.

• If you itemize you can deduct up to 100% of your adjusted gross income (it used to be 60%).

• If you’re retired you can donate securities and IRA distributions

Now, more than ever, the hunger situation in Madison County is critical.  So many are without work; having lost homes because of job loss.  The Lord’s Harvest is providing life giving food and a life-line to folks who are struggling to make ends meet.  If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to: 

The Lord’s Harvest

911 Bailey Street

Mars Hill, NC 28754

or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button.   Donations received or post-marked by December 31, 2020 will be eligible for a  tax credit in 2020.  Again, our thanks!  We truly do give thanks for each one of you.  May God bless you!  Wishing you a Merry Christmas and wishing us all a happier, healthier New Year!
                                                           Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge

Thanksgiving Update

Dear friends,

Over the past several months, The Lord’s Harvest has been hard at work sharing food throughout Madison County. We are blessed to have been able to share over 130,000 pounds of staple food and produce boxes with over 1,500 families each month; many who have had an even more difficult time during the pandemic.

You might ask why folks here are struggling so much. Almost 70% of children in Madison County are food insecure (meaning they don’t know where their next meal will come from.). 80% of those we provide food to are either children, senior adults or veterans. Many grandparents are taking care of elderly parents while also taking care of their grandchildren! With even tougher times, people are loosing their jobs which leads to them loosing their homes and having to move in with family. Madison County has very little industry and besides school employment (K-12, Madison Early College, AB Tech, and Mars Hill University), jobs are few and far between. Most people have to drive to Asheville for employment opportunities and many of these folks work minimum wage jobs: the numbers just don’t add up. The cost of fuel and the hours on the road each day (2-3) means child care expenses for some or even more burden on grandparents who don’t have the means to take care of additional food costs. The cost of living is high here; beautiful surrounding equals higher property values and higher taxes. Many of those we help come from families who have lived on the same lands over 200 years. When they moved west to have a home, most people didn’t want such mountainous land for raising their families, crops and livestock. These are a proud people, who are physically tough and determined to do what they can for themselves; they aren’t looking for a handout - they are looking for a hand up! What a blessing it is for us to be able to not only give boxes of food but to provide God’s message of hope to those who are hurting and in need of the light and peace only He can give!

We have a special announcement. We have an anonymous donor who is willing to match any gifts given between next Tuesday, November 23 and the end of the day on Giving Tuesday, December 1 up to $5,000.00!!! Won’t you consider partnering with us to help those who are in need during this season of giving thanks? You can give in one of several ways: On this website, there is a donate button. Gifts given from November 23-December 1 will be matched dollar for dollar! If you wish to mail your contribution, you may mail it to: The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey Street, Mars Hill, NC. 28754. (Gifts must be postmarked by December 1 to qualify for the match.)

As we approach the Thanksgiving holidays, we would ask that as you give thanks for the blessings that you have received, that you would consider giving a gift to help others have food on their table year round. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to remember and count our blessings; but it is also a time to share those blessings with others who struggle to have the necessities of life. Thank you for your consideration in partnering with us!

May God bless you this holiday season with wonders of His love! We are thankful for YOU!

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge.

PS

Another way you can contribute is by connecting to Amazon Smile. Lord S Harvest for the Hungry, Inc. (please notice the spelling and spacing) is one of the designated charities that receives a small percentage of qualified purchases and it doesn’t cost you anything. This is an easy way to help The Lord’s Harvest. Last quarter we received a check from Amazon for $34.75 - while not a lot of money, if EVERYONE were to connect to smile, we could easily see much more.

Volunteer Corner

For the next several months, The Lord’s Harvest will be reaching out to some of our volunteers about what it means to them to volunteer with The Lord’s Harvest.

Kristina Dixon (Mars Hill Bonner Scholar working with The Lord’s Harvest) interviewed Recy Barnette this past week. Recy, her husband, Kevin and their children (pictured here), began volunteering with The Lord’s Harvest during the pandemic. Kevin Barnette works with another volunteer, Mars Hill University Coach Chuck Pfifer; Chuck suggested that the Barnette family get involved. Kevin, (who is also a Football Coach at Mars Hill University and a member of the Madison County School Board), saw what The Lord’s Harvest was doing for the food insecure school-aged children and he and their family wanted to get involved. Recy said that her first impression was “this is amazing.” She saw people of all races, ages, and abilities, including members of the National Guard, coming together. As they began volunteering, she was able to hear more about how big the need is in the community and witnessed first hand how many volunteers it takes to help make the non-profit possible.

She especially loves how The Lord’s Harvest has been able to make connections throughout the Madison County and in the surrounding community. She herself, reached out to a friend who is a textile artist in the River Arts District in Asheville, NC. Because of Recy’s friendship, 700 beautiful hand-sown cloth masks were donated to The Lord’s Harvest! These masks were placed in the staple food boxes given out in July and August so that children going back to school and their families had masks they could be proud to wear. The cooperation of textile artist, Pattiy Torno and many of her coworkers, is just one example of how a community of people, working together, can make a difference in a time of need.

Now that school has resumed, the Barnette’s are not able to volunteer as much as they once did. She would love to get the word out to folks in the community that this is a great opportunity to serve and help others in need. “Your time, monetary donations, and prayers can change people’s lives. When you volunteer you are being God’s hands in helping families in Madison County. We volunteer as a family, and as family, we have created many memories that will last a lifetime; moments that will outlast my lifetime. My children have been impacted by this experience; they will want to continue to volunteer with The Lord’s Harvest.”

For more ways you can become involved, please contact Bill Welsch @ (828)808-5002 or Sharon Welsch @ (828)776-6099. The Lord’s Harvest follows COVID health regulations and welcomes individual volunteers or you may volunteer, as the Barnette’s do, as a family. Please consider how YOU can make a difference.

The Lord’s Harvesters

We have been blessed to begin a prayer ministry under the leadership of Kevin and Recy Barnette (beautifully pictured right)! Calling ourselves The Lord’s Harvesters, we stop where we are at 9:38 p.m. Monday through Friday to pray for our ministry and God’s leading and wisdom. Why 9:38 pm? So glad you asked! It is in response to Matthew 9:38 which says, “So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” Would YOU like to join us? If so, we welcome your prayer support! Simply stop what you are doing at 9:38 p.m. and offer up prayers for God’s continuing wisdom and guidance as we feed those who are hungry in Madison County, the second most food insecure county in the state of North Carolina! As always, your tax deductible gifts are also welcome and they will be used to purchase food for vulnerable populations, most especially children, senior adults, and veterans. We are so very thankful for both your prayers and your donations! May God bless you!

Summer 2020 (Quarterly Report)

Hello Dear Friends,

We have been busy folks for the past 15 weeks! Working in conjunction of Madison County Schools we have off-loaded, unpacked, repacked, reloaded and delivered and distributed over 100,000 pounds of food! And that is just in the past 15 weeks! We are so blessed by what we call our “first Responders”; folks who have given sacrificially of their time and energy, often working tirelessly, with joy in their hearts towards the end of feeding those who are hungry throughout Madison County. We continue to work with seven sites to provide staple food, produce boxes and meat and working through fire stations and community groups in seven different areas of Madison County. We are also continuing to deliver, where we can, to the churches that we have built relationships with, helping in six more areas throughout the county. - ALL thirteen of these sites have wonderful people who love their communities and serve their folks with the spirit of Christ, reaching out with love to those who are hurting and hungry. We cannot begin to thank our volunteers for the important work they are doing and for the care and compassion they show to members of their communities. AND we thank those who have given and continuing to give sacrificially to support this ministry. Together, they/we are the hands and feet of Jesus.

Bill has shared stories of folks who have come to receive food who have been so filled with gratitude. The few times that I have helped at the Mars Hill site, I can attest to the thankfulness of those who are receiving the food; some who have lost jobs during the pandemic, some who have never had enough to feed their children on the weekends, one whose son was going to one of the “mini proms” (a group of less then ten high school students who meet outdoors for dinner and dancing with a DJ to somewhat normalize the high school experience). This young man did not have a father figure to help him with his tie. Bill, of course, stepped in and tied it for the young man and his mother cried with tears of joy for this act of kindness and grace.

As we look towards the fall and what will happen with schools “reopening”, many people have asked what we will do. We will do what we have always done, reach out, wherever we can to help the “least of these” with whatever resources we have been blessed to receive; resources of time, money, gifts, talents, blessings and prayers. God is so good and we give back out of an abundance of gratitude. We will again work with Madison County School to provide help to the families of the nearly 70% of children who are food insecure and those who live in food deserts (no grocery store within an hours drive) to help wherever we can. We are blessed to be a blessing!

The work of The Lord’s Harvest continues to be needed and appreciate; so do your donations and prayers. If you would like to donate, you may do so in one of several ways: listed on this website there is a donate button, click it and you will be taken to a secure payment page. You can also mail a check to The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey Street, Mars Hill, NC 28754. 100% of your donation goes directly to the ministry. No one receives a salary and you can rest assured that your gift is going to help people have much needed food!

Another way you can contribute is by connecting to Amazon Smile. Lord S Harvest for the Hungry, Inc. (please notice the spelling and spacing) is one of the designated charities that receives a small percentage of qualified purchases that doesn’t cost you anything additional. This is an easy way to help The Lord’s Harvest. Last quarter we received a check from Amazon for $7.95 - while not a lot of money, if EVERYONE were to connect to smile, we could easily see much more.

Please know that we appreciate your love and support of this ministry. We are grateful for all who give, in any capacity, and we want you to know that The Lord’s Harvest would not exist without the generosity and prayers of people like YOU! We thank God for YOU!

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge

Spring 2020 (Quarterly Report)

Hello Dear Ones,

What a time we are living in! We are all living in a time of uncertainty and for many insecurity. Businesses closings, schools closings, and sheltering in place are things we hear in the news every day and we worry about what it will mean for us.

Madison County Schools closed on March 16. Amazingly, Bill and Sharon met with the superintendent of schools, the assistant superintendent, Madison County School Board Chair, Chad and Michelle Bradley who are passionate about feeding the children in our county who have little food at home, and elementary school social workers the Monday before. We met to talk about childhood hunger and how we might work to help. We had worked out a great plan to start providing food for Hot Springs Elementary (who has 80% food insecurity). And as is often the case when we are living life listening for the still small voice of God, we had already put some of the pieces in place and worked out details that ended up being a huge plus as we are working to help 1500 students who are food insecure during the COVID-19 outbreak.

So what is The Lord’s Harvest doing to help during this serious pandemic? We are currently assisting students who are at risk with food boxes that are intended to help the children have food in their homes during the weekends. While the schools are providing a hot lunch each day which students receive daily delivered by bus, they have no guarantee of any food during the weekend. With more and more people in financial straits due to work layoffs or having to stay home with children, these children are not only at risk of going without a meal, it becomes a literal matter of life and death. The Lord’s Harvest is also providing food boxes which are being pre-positioned in six locations in some of the most vulnerable areas of the county and being made available weekly to the parents of children who are most at risk. All of these unique helping measures have been the master plan of Bill who has worked tirelessly talking with fire stations, community leaders, police and sheriff’s departments to pull all of this together in record time because he passionately wants to help these children. Not only is this a unique program, it is genius! Bill’s years of serving in the military and helping with humanitarian aid in places all over the world has been pulled together to help children who are hungry have food in their homes. Those words, “God goes before you to prepare the way” humbly comes to mind.

It is humbling for us to be serving in this way. And yes, there have been many long days as we work to pack boxes and load trucks and make deliveries. And yes, there have been sleepless nights, but we believe we are doing what we have been called to do and we are serving “the least of these” in a time when people are struggling and children are at serious health risk.

We know that there are many people throughout the country who are in need; we know that there are probably people in your area who are struggling to make ends meet, but we ask that you would consider helping support with this very special program. All gifts are tax deductible and 100% of your donations go directly to those who are hungry. We invite you to go to our website www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org to make a donation on line of you can send a check to The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey St, Mars Hill, NC 28754. We appreciate your kind consideration. And we thank you! May God bless you and keep you healthy. We are truly thankful for YOU!

Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch

The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge

2019 Year End Report

Dearest Friends and Family,
 
What a wonderful year we have had at The Lord's Harvest!  We are so thankful for everyone who has blessed us with their time, talents and monetary gifts.  We have had another record breaking year!

DURING 2019 WE DISTRUBTUTED:

• 139,031 pounds of potatoes

• 20,884 pounds of pinto beans

• 20,404 pounds of cornmeal

• 29,790 pounds of onions

To Nineteen distribution points, monthly - namely

• Barnardsville Community Center 

• Beacon of Hope

• Bethel Baptist Church

• Bull Creek Baptist Church

• Colvin Creek Community Church (Spillcorn)

• FARM (Feeding Aging Residents of Madison)

• Forks of Ivy Missionary Baptist Church

• Flat Creek Baptist Church

• Hot Springs Salvation Army Point

• Ivy Ridge Apartments

• Laurel Branch Baptist Church

• Keystone Ministries (Gray, TN)

• Kids of Christ (Hot Springs)

• Madison Middle School

• Middle Fork Baptist Church

• Neighbors in Need

• Spring Creek Nutrition Site

• Spring Creek United Methodist Church

• Upper Laurel (Bright Hope Laurel Methodist Church)

For a total of 1,432 families per month.

Additionally:

100 families were provided with potatoes, pinto beans, cornmeal and onions in conjunction with Jonesborough Baptist Church as a part of their ministry to the community event in December 2019

55 families were provided with potatoes in conjunction with Mars Hill Baptist Church's Operation Santa ( a program that provides a Christmas meal to families that are identified by Guidance Counselors from Madison County school whose children are most at risk for food insecurity over Christmas break.

The Lord's Harvest distributed staple food boxes to 362 families per month to church distribution ministries in Spring Creek, Spillcorn, Laurel Branch, Ivy Ridge, Forks of Ivy, Bethel, Middle Fork Hot Springs, Bull Creek and Upper Laurel Communities and in conjunction with the Madison County Meals of Wheels Homebound program (FARM).  91,000 pounds of food was off loaded, unpacked, processed, repacked, reloaded and distributed by Bill and Sharon Welsch with special thanks to the Mars Hill Baseball Team and their head coach, Hunter Bryant, and MANY members of Mars Hill Baptist Church, most notably Don Russell and Blake Yost along with Mars Hill Defensive Football Coach Chuck Phifer and several of the Team members, and to Laura Molina (and friends) who give generously of their time to help with packing!  Approximately 3,500 pounds of food is offloaded at the church every other Monday.  We are very grateful for the very generous giving of time and sweat!

The lion's share of the work falls on Bill has he makes deliveries almost every day (sometimes more than one) almost every day of the week (Monday through Friday and three Saturday's a month.)  He also picks up, on-loads, and off-loads all potatoes, pinto beans, corn for cornmeal and onions by hand, as well as packing produce for daily deliveries.

Our 2019 milestones . . . 

• We received our 501(c)3 status and are now officially a non-profit organization.  If your company provides matching gifts for donations made to a non-profit - please let us know and we can provide a w-9 to increase your gift!

• With the help of some generous donors, we now have access to a building that we will be leasing in 2020 where we can consolidate all of the operation.  We hope to move into the building in June of 2020 after some refurbishment for our operation.  

• Through the providence of God, and with the help of Bill's cousin Jimmie in Dundee Ohio, we met a man whose ministry is to provide the labor to transform spaces into working ministries.  He and his team of volunteers will be here in May to help make the building exactly what we need!

• With the help of the superintendent of Madison County Schools, Dr. Will Hoffman, and input from School Board Members, principals, The Lord's Harvest Board Members and members from the community, we have a plan to help even more school aged children receive food in 2020.

• 2020 will mark our ninth year of ministry!

Without the financial support of those who served in the military with Bill, personal friends and family, members of Mars Hill Baptist Church, and a foundation grant, The Lord's Harvest would not exist.  100% of donations go towards feeding the hungry in Madison County and the surrounding area.  We wish to thank ALL who have given monetarily to help us continue to minister to those who are hungry in Madison and surrounding area.  How we appreciate your prayers and financial support of The Lord’s Harvest.  You are helping us provide these things in abundantly wonderful, compassionate ways! How thankful we are for you!

How can you become involved?  
You can STILL give on-line through midnight tonight and your gift could help reduce your 2019 taxes.  

• Our website gives you an opportunity to give ONLINE!  We invite you to take a look at www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org.  Please prayerfully consider making an online donation!

• The Lord’s Harvestis also proud to be a United Way partner.  If you would like to make a contribution to the United Way of Madison County, you can designate The Lord’s Harvest as a recipient.

• And we can always receive donations through the mail at The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey St, Mars Hill, NC. 28754.

• Volunteers are also always welcome and appreciated as are your prayers, love and support.

 
How thankful we are for each and every one of YOU!  As we continue to minister together, we would ask for your continued prayers and we thank those who share of your resources, once or again and again, to bless the “least of these” here in Madison County and beyond.  May God continue to bless each of you with "wonders His love!
                                                           Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch
 
The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge

December 2019 Newsletter

Dearest Friends and Family,
We have begun the season of Advent - the season of waiting and anticipating the birth of our Savior, Christ the lord.  It continues to be a busy time for us and especially as we prepare to celebrate the holidays many of our deliveries will get time crunched.  We would appreciate your prayers for us as we end the year strong!  

So much has happened since we last sent an update.  The Lord's Harvest now has it's own 501(c)3 status!  This means we will be able to apply for possible grants in the future and that we can continue to grow.  During the last month we were blessed to find a building that will house all parts of the ministry.  The building will be leased to us for the foreseeable future.  This will allow us to move all operations to a central location which has easy access for volunteers and from which to make deliveries.  This is an exciting development for us and we are giving thanks to God for His provision for us.  We look to move into the building sometime in the new year after some modifications have been made.  To tell you the full story would take more space than would be prudent but suffice it to say that God has been very busy working out all the details and we are recipients of incredible blessings!  We thank all of you who have prayed for us during this part of our journey!  Please know that now The Lord's Harvest has a bright and long future to look forward to!  Thanks be to God!

Here at The Lord’s Harvest, we continue to provide potatoes, pinto beans, cornmeal and onions to 1,750 families in Madison and surrounding counties.  We also provide staple food boxes to 450 families.  By working with churches in several local communities, we are able to help those who are vulnerable and in need of food assistance.  

85% of those we help are children, senior adults or veterans. 37% of the children in Madison County to not know where their next meal will cove from  As our school aged children prepare for Christmas break, many will go home to a cold house that will have little to no food.  The food we provide helps these students and many widows and veterans in our area have food during the cold winter months.  We are blessed to be able to help "the least these" because of folks like you who give to make this ministry possible.

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday.  If you would like to contribute to a very worthwhile cause, we invite you to visit our website and make a donation on-line.  Of course, checks mailed to us will also be welcomed!  Please know that ALL money we receive goes directly to feeding the hungry.  We use all monies given to help feed those who are hungry in Madison County.  

How we appreciate your prayers and financial support of The Lord’s Harvest.  You are helping us provide these things in abundantly wonderful, compassionate ways! How thankful we are for you!  
 
How can you become involved? 

• Our website gives you an opportunity to give ONLINE!  We invite you to take a look at www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org.  Please prayerfully consider making an online donation!

• The Lord’s Harvestis also proud to be a United Way partner.  If you would like to make a contribution to the United Way of Madison County, you can designate The Lord’s Harvest as a recipient.

• And we can always receive donations through the mail at The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey St, Mars Hill, NC. 28754.

• Volunteers are also always welcome and appreciated as are your prayers, love and support.

 
How thankful we are for each and every one of YOU!  As we continue to minister together, we would ask for your continued prayers and we thank those who share of your resources, once or again and again, to bless the “least of these” here in Madison County and beyond.  May God continue to bless each of you with “Wonders of His love”

                                                           Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch
 
The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge

Summer 2019 Update

With U.S. Census data showing that nearly one-in-five local residents live at or below the poverty line, addressing food insecurity in Madison County is a real challenge. Here, thanks to nonprofits, churches and community groups, the safety net extends far beyond federal programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which serves upwards of 3,600 county residents each month. The local effort fills gaps to help ensure that residents in need get the nutrition they need.

 “If I was somebody who wanted to learn how to take care of the people in the county I was living in, I'd go to Madison County,” said Bill Welsch.

A food distribution at the Beacon of Hope exemplifies how community groups help address food insecurity across Madison County. (Photo: Paul Moon/The News-Record & Sentinel)

An Ohio native who moved to Mars Hill around 10 years ago, Welsch plays a key role in the local food assistance network as the co-founder of The Lord’s Harvest. Launched in 2011 with wife Sharon, the nonprofit helps feed around 1,600 area families each month by supplying roughly 20 distribution points with potatoes, pinto beans, cornmeal, rice and onions. 

“I’m not putting junk in there. There’s no cookies or candy or what not,” Welsch said of the fresh ingredients he provides. “Just decent stuff to eat.”

To Bill, the food The Lord’s Harvest provides matches the Scottish-Irish heritage of the local community. “They like it,” he said of the traditional fare. For younger beneficiaries, Welsch includes recipes to help them make the most of the staples provided. “There’s a lot of young, unmarried mothers so the recipes help.”

The Lord's Harvest contributes traditional staples - rice, potatoes, pinto beans, onions and cornmeal - to food distributions run by nonprofits and churches across Madison County. (Photo: Paul Moon/The News-Record & Sentinel)

When the nonprofit first got off the ground, Bill and Sharon tried to cultivate and harvest food to share with those in need. “For the first three years, we tried to grow stuff,” Welsch remembered. “Then I realized we can’t keep taking money and flushing it down the toilet. We just weren’t doing any good trying to grow stuff.”

The challenges of farming combined with only seasonal availability of food motivated the Welsch’s to change tack. He now estimates he covers over 1,000 miles each month picking up food both donated from Manna Food Bank and purchased from the WNC Farmers Market and Ingels. 

Bill Welsch estimates he drives about 1,000 miles each month picking up and delivering food for The Lord's Harvest. (Photo: Paul Moon/The News-Record & Sentinel)

“The baseball, basketball and football teams from Mars Hill University will help us unload stuff,” Welsh said.

The Welschs then work to sort and separate food - even grinding the corn for the corn meal - before grouping items together for food distributions in every corner of the county. In 2019, they estimate they’ll share over 200,000 pounds of food to organizations like the Salvation Army, Neighbors and Need and Beacon of Hope.

The Lord’s Harvest also supports food distributions at about seven churches across the county. “There are 54 Baptist churches in Madison County, so we’re only scratching the surface,” Bill said. “Linda gets a little nervous with me because usually I found somebody who has a need and I just keep adding on and adding on. There are a lot of people hungry in this county.”

Bill Welsh founded The Lord's Harvest with his wife Sharon. (Photo: Paul Moon/The News-Record & Sentinel)

Bill doesn’t take a salary and all donations support food purchases and deliveries. While the Welschs have taken the lead in managing operations – with Bill doing literally most of the heavy lifting himself – they know the future of organization will rest on someone else’s shoulders. An army veteran, Bill has connected with those he served to generate a strong donor base for the nonprofit that he believes can support a salary for a full-time staffer. “We’ve never had to worry about money,” he said. “It’s always been there.”

Bill hopes that when he does decide to pullback on supply runs, that he’ll have more time to connect with those benefiting from food support. “I love this because of the people,” Bill said. “This county, there’s a real spirit of cooperation here, especially when it comes to giving stuff away.”

To learn more about The Lord’s Harvest, visit lordsharvestforthehungry.org.

Thankful for Flat Creek Baptist!

We had a visit from Flat Creek Baptist and their youth and leadership on Wednesday, July 17. They knocked out 165 boxes (1,948 pounds) of potatoes, pinto beans, rice and onions in about 40 minutes! These boxes will be delivered on Friday, July 19. So thankful for this wonderful group and their sweet spirits!

Summer Newsletter 2019!

Half the year is over!!!

Dearest Friends and Family,

Happy Summer!  What a busy time we continue to have at The Lord’s Harvest.  We are thankful to have been blessed by two great groups who volunteered during June.  We had an intergenerational group from Forks of Ivy Baptist Church in Madison County and a group of eighth graders and their leaders from Westover Church in High Point, North Carolina.  These groups did an amazing job helping with many aspects of our ministry! In July we are looking forward to having a group of youth from the Southern conference of the Church of the Brethren.  (Volunteers are always welcome AND appreciated!)     

Here at The Lord’s Harvest, we continue to provide potatoes, cornmeal and onions to 1,750 families in Madison and surrounding counties.  Due to our giving being down in the last couple of months, we made the decision to only provide pinto beans and rice to those who also receive staple food boxes.  We feel this is the best stewardship of the monies which we are blessed with each month. We still provide staple food boxes to 450 families.  We help those who do not have a food pantry in their community by working through local churches.  The churches are able to help us identify people in their communities who are vulnerable and need food assistance; especially senior adults and children who are home for the summer without access to food.

Here in Madison County, 37% of children are “food insecure”.  This means that 1 in every 2.7 children go to bed without at leastone meal every day!  The food you are helping to provide through your donations and prayers means that these children do not have to go to bed hungry every day.  It also means that senior adults and veterans are being provided healthy, nutritious food on a monthly basis, which helps them to be able to spread their meager social security checks further so that they can stay in their homes and purchase medicine.  Food is the first thing illuminated when you have to make a decision about whether you will be able to pay your utility bill or purchase food.  Medicine and food are considered non-essential for the poorest of the poor.  85% of those we help are children, senior adults or veterans.  The remaining 15% are working age adults, often referred to as the underemployed who are working for low paying, minimum wage jobs who often have to drive into Asheville because there are not many jobs available in Madison County. These people WANT to work, they WANT to provide for the families – they just don’t make enough money to make ends meet.  The staple food boxes provide a stop gap measure from paycheck to paycheck. 

So why do we do what we do? It is simple.  In Matthew 25:34-40, Jesus asked us to help to provide for those who are hungry or thirsty; those who are struggling to make ends meet; those who have little hope of changing their circumstances and those who are sick.  He said whenever you have helped one of those who are in these circumstances, you have done what is pleasing in His sight.  Even with a more limited budget, we want to continue to provide food to those who are hungry and hope to those who have a hard time seeing any light or hope in their lives.  We are all called to be light and hope to a world that is in darkness.   

During 2019, we are excitedly visioning about the future of this ministry.  We are currently awaiting notification about our 501©3 status. We also are praying about sustaining and expanding this ministry for the foreseeable future. We are thankful for God’s provision of vision!!  What we do is only possible because of those who share of their resources and offer their prayers and volunteer hours!

How we appreciate your prayers and financial support of The Lord’s Harvest.  You are helping us provide these things in abundantly wonderful, compassionate ways! How thankful we are for you!  

How can you become involved? 

·     Our website gives you an opportunity to give ONLINE!  We invite you to take a look at www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org.  Please prayerfully consider making an online donation!

·     The Lord’s Harvestis also proud to be a United Way partner.  If you would like to make a contribution to the United Way of Madison County, you can designate The Lord’s Harvest as a recipient.

·     And we can always receive donations through the mail at The Lord’s Harvest, 911 Bailey St, Mars Hill, NC. 28754.

·     Volunteers are also always welcome and appreciated as are your prayers, love and support.

How thankful we are for each and every one of YOU!  As we continue to minister together, we would ask for your continued prayers and we thank those who share of your resources, once or again and again, to bless the “least of these” here in Madison County and beyond.  May God continue to bless each of you in wonderful and mighty ways.

Bill and Sharon Welsch

Thanksgiving Update

November 2018
Dearest Friends and Family,

Thanksgiving Day has come and gone and we are now on the roller coaster ride toward Christmas. We would be remiss not to stop and share a huge word of thanks for ALL those who have given to support The Lord’s Harvest in 2018. We are blessed to have a few folks who give on a monthly basis as well as those who give every once in a while and those who give one time only. Whatever the gift, no matter how large or small, it is very much appreciated and we are truly, humbly thankful for your support, love and prayers!

Bill received word from his recent biopsy that he is CANCER FREE! While he will continue with maintenance treatments for the next three years with an occasional biopsy and cystoscopy, we could not be more excited and want to thank you so much for your prayers and love and support. This means that Bill can continue the work we are doing through The Lord’s Harvest!

We are currently helping1,400 families through twenty agencies/ministries with food relief. We continue the new work Bill has begun with seven churches in the French Broad Association. We are delighted to be partnering with Bethel Baptist Church, Bull Creek Baptist Church, Flat Creek Baptist Church, Forks of Ivy Missionary Baptist Church, Grapevine Baptist Church, Laurel Branch Baptist Church and Middlefork Baptist Church.  These churches are working in their communities to help those who are hungry.  Because they know the people in their community, they are able to help us get food to even more people in Madison County. 

We also continue our work with Barnardsville Community Center, Beacon of Hope, Bright Hope Laurel United Methodist Church (Ebbs Chapel), Colvin Creek Church in Spillcorn, FARM (Feeding Aging Residents of Madison - part of the Madison County Senior feeding program), Flats Missionary Baptist Church in Spring Creek, Hot Springs Salvation Army Point, Ivy Ridge Housing Authority (Mars Hill), Keystone Federal Housing (Johnson City, TN), Kids for Christ (an after school program), Neighbors in Need, Spring Creek Nutritional Site, Spring Creek United Methodist Church. How thankful we are for the relationships we have formed through all these partnerships.

The Lord’s Harvest’s focus is mainly Senior Adults and children (86%) with the remainder being underemployed adults who work for minimum wage often driving two hours to and from work each day. The medium income in Madison County is $22,000; which is below average for the state of North Carolina while the cost of living here is one of the highest not only in the state but in the United States! The beauty of living in the surrounding mountains commands a high cost of living. Senior Adults, who have lived here all their lives, must often choose between paying utilities and for housing or for medicine, medical care and food; you can imagine which items are most often cut. Children have no choice about who their parents are but 37% of these children go to bed hungry each night. Thank goodness for school breakfasts and lunches but what happens when school will be closed over winter break in only a few weeks? These are places where The Lord’s Harvest can step in and help! We also have a larger percentage of veterans than the national average living in Madison County and over half of them live in poverty. The Lord’s Harvest helps these men and women who have given sacrificially for our country’s freedom! When you give financially to support The Lord’s Harvest, these are the people to whom your gift has a direct impact! 100% of monetary donations go directly to hunger relief. We have no paid staff; Bill nor Sharon receive a salary.

While it seems that Thanksgiving has become more of a marketing promotion for commercialism than a holiday to actually celebrate the gift of giving thanks for all the blessings which we have received; Bill and Sharon give thanks for friends and family. Bill’s recent good news from his biopsy report gives us even more for which to be thankful. AND we are thankful for YOU!

Perhaps you have already done your Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Local Sunday shopping. Maybe you are awaiting the deals on Cyber Monday, but we ask you to consider making a financial contribution to The Lord’s Harvest on Giving Tuesday this coming Tuesday, November 27.

It is ONLY because of continued monetary gifts that this ministry is a reality!  We are so thankful to those of you who give on a regular basis.  Your continued generous support allows us to sustain this ministry on a monthly basis.  We could NOT do all we do without your faithful giving!  We are thankful for those who give on a one-time basis, too; no gift is too small and goes directly to hunger relief! And as always, we are so thankful for our praying friends and family without whose faithful prayer support The Lord’s Harvest would not exist.  Please do pray for us!   

As always, we welcome your support!  The Lord's Harvest is strictly a volunteer operation with Bill doing about 80% of the work!  Won't you consider giving to help “the least of these.”  Volunteers are welcome and donations are needed and appreciated! If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Lord’s Harvest, please send your check to: 

The Lord’s Harvest

911 Bailey Street

Mars Hill, NC 28754

or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button.  Thank you! We truly do give thanks for you.  May God bless you!

                                                           Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch
 
The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge

This year we have been blessed by the Mars Hill University Baseball Team who has provided support by helping us unload orders from MANNA foodbank and helping us load our deliveries to the various areas in Madison County. Go Lions!

FEBRUARY UpDate

February 10, 2018

 Dearest Friends and Family,

We are sending our wishes for a Happy New Year and Happy Valentine’s Day all rolled into one as we kick off our first 2018 newsletter – soooo sorry for the delay – we have been busy little folks around here!  The first three weeks of January , it was just Bill and Sharon doing the work for The Lord’s Harvest since our students were on Christmas break.  Fortunately they have returned and we are thankful!  We are blessed by students from Mars Hill University who are a part of the Bonner Scholarship Program and by the young men who are part of the Mars Hill Baseball team under the coaching leadership of Aaron Rembert!  These students are a wonderful help to us and we are very blessed by them!  We are also very thankful for several individuals from Mars Hill Baptist Church who share their time to help us load food boxes for delivery.  Without the help we receive from many individuals, we could not provide the hunger relief we do!             

Unbelievably, we are beginning our eighth year of helping those who are hungry in Madison and surrounding counties. 

Statistically speaking:  The Lord’s Harvest helps:

• 1,594 families with potatoes, pinto beans, white rice, stone-ground cornmeal and grits.

• We provide these items to 12 different food pantries in Madison County, Buncombe County, Yancy County, Unicoi County, Tennessee and Washington County, Tennessee.

• We also provide food boxes to 250 families throughout Madison County in locations where there is no food pantry.

• Many of the people we serve are veterans; almost half are senior adults. 41% of the families we serve have children in the home; 33% of the children in this county go to bed hungry every night; some of them never know if or when another meal may be available. School breakfasts and lunches are their only sure source of food. Approximately 5,500 individuals receive food from The Lord’s Harvest.

We have lost part of our funding due to the death of dear friends, Drs Robert and Rachel Chapman in 2017.  They provided generous financial support from our meager beginnings.  This loss has caused us to take a step back and to begin to evaluate how much we can help those whom we are serving.  We will be asking our partner agencies to help us evaluate what three items their clients like best: potatoes, pinto beans, rice, cornmeal or grits.  We may transition to providing only the top three items to the sites we serve.

As always we welcome your support!  Donations to the Lord’s Harvest may be sent to: 

The Lord’s Harvest
911 Bailey Street
Mars Hill, NC 28754

or you can visit our website (www.lordsharvestforthehungry.org) and click on the “donate” button.  Please know that 100% of your donation goes directly back into our ministry!

We are so thankful to those of you who give on a regular basis as well.  Your continued generous support allows us to sustain this ministry on a monthly basis.  We could NOT do all we do without your faithful giving!  We are also thankful for those who give on a one-time basis; no gift is too small and goes directly to hunger relief! And as always, we are so thankful for our praying friends and family without whose faithful prayer support The Lord’s Harvest would not exist.  Please do pray for us!  May God bless you! 

             Serving Him,

Bill and Sharon Welsch
 
The hands of Jesus in the heart of the Blue Ridge.

WHY IS THERE HUNGER IN MADISON COUNTY?

Recently we received a newsletter from one of our partner agencies that described in a nutshell the reasons for hunger in Madison County.  Please allow us to share an excerpt:

[The Lord's Harvest] serves the working poor, the underemployed struggling to find full-time work, impoverished seniors, veterans, disabled adults, and children. 85% of the people we serve are senior adults, veterans, disabled adults, or children.  Although we hear the "economy is turning around" it is not turning around for these folks. We sometimes hear "Those people just need to get a job!" The working poor have jobs; they simply do not make enough to live on.  There are very few jobs in Madison County and many people have to drive to neighboring counties to find employment which means more money for fuel and additional child care costs.

Here is an example of the financial challenge facing the working poor in Western North Carolina. . .

Living expenses for a family of four in Madison County requires a monthly income of approximately $4,350.  To attain this level of income, one adult working full time would need to earn $27 an hour, or two working adults would need to make a combined income of $27 an hour.  We could argue that the state average is too high for Madison County, so for the sake of this example, let's assume living in Madison County is less costly than the state average and reduce it by 15% to $3,697 a month.  The monthly income for two parents working full time and making slightly over minimum wage, ($10/per /person) is $3,466 a month.  This results in a monthly shortfall of $231.  The fear of becoming homeless drives them to make sure all housing cots are paid first.  Common strategies to get by include; skipping meals, buying the least expensive (no nutritional value) food, as well as accessing county supportive services. 

Recently a new and sobering statistic was released showing that OVER 30% of the children in Madison County are living in poverty and are referred to as "food insecure" (which is a nice way of saying they have no idea where their next meal will come from).  A staggering number of children are homeless in our area.  The support strategies for the working poor are failing.  Families must choose to move into a shelter, live temporarily with friends or relatives, or resort to living in their cars.  Children growing up facing daily fear of hunger and homelessness are not afforded the same opportunities as other children.  These children are robbed of their childhoods, and carry "adult worries" at an early age.

While only 15% of those we serve are adults, the above synopsis may help you understand why we do what we do to help the "least of these" in our community, county, and the surrounding area.  If you would like to become involved by donating or by volunteering, Bill and Sharon would welcome your help!  You may donate on-line through this website or you can mail a check to:  "The Lord's Harvest" c/o Bill Welsch, 911 Bailey Street, Mars Hill, NC28754.  100% of your donation goes to helping those who are hungry.  Your gift is tax deductible! 

2016 Highlights

Bill was interviewed about The Lord's Harvest on a radio station in Johnson City, Tennessee. What an amazing opportunity for us to share our story about the work we are doing in Madison County! Listen to the interview here!

The Lord’s Harvest received a $1,500 grant from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina’s Wealth and Poverty Committee in December.The Lord's Harvest also received a $1,000 Bonner Scholar grant from Mars Hill University in March2016! We are humbly grateful for these organizations and their partnership with us as we help fight poverty in Madison County. 

Bill's talk at New Victory Baptist Church

Packing bags of Cornmeal

November Newsletter

I hope this finds all of you doing well and safe wherever you may be. Sharon and I wanted to send a short update because there has been some significant changes for us in the last couple of weeks. Before I tell you the latest we want to thank you for your support. We can’t tell you enough what your support means to these people and how it has made so many changes in people’s lives that otherwise don’t have much hope in this life. I try not to look at people in ways that influence me as to who deserves help and who doesn’t, but the fact that we are really starting to reach senior citizens has really given me hope and that we are making a difference. I am thankful that God has helped us break the barrier in communities that allows us to help those who are retired and in a lot of cases shut-ins. I thank God thru our efforts that now the county government has come to us and finally realizes that they cannot run a Food Support Program and that only Faith Based Organizations need to be in this business.