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Carolina Farm Credit Shelby Service Center Participates in Cleveland County Potato Project
Bryan Drum, Suzette Smith, Gary Hastings, Paul Matheny, Miles Hamrick and Tonie Turner,
 The employees of the Carolina Farm Credit Shelby service center are participating in the Cleveland County Potato Project by growing potatoes and donating them to feed the hungry.
The project began in 2010 after Doug Sharp and Bill Horn got the idea during a Sunday school classroom discussion. Sharp and Horn wanted to help fill the needs of people in Cleveland County and developed the idea to grow potatoes to feed the hungry. The program consists of volunteers who donate land, time, and funds to plant, grow, harvest, and donate potatoes. When the potatoes are harvested, they are donated to Kings Mountain Crisis Ministry, Salvation Army, Greater Cleveland County Baptist Association, and U-Can. These agencies give the potatoes to local people in need. Volunteers harvested 30,000 pounds of potatoes in 2010 and 84,000 pounds in 2011.
When the employees of the Carolina Farm Credit Shelby service center heard about the Potato Project at a Farm City Week breakfast, they decided it was a perfect way to promote agriculture and give back to the community.  The employees spent the afternoon of March 1 cutting seed potatoes and then planting them in furrows.  The potatoes were planted on an acre of land donated by the Randolph Family in Boiling Springs. In early summer, employees will again volunteer their time to harvest the potatoes. They hope to harvest 8,000 pounds of potatoes to donate to the project.
Gary Hastings, Regional Lending Manager in Shelby says, “Being involved in lending to the agricultural community this project aligned up with all we stand for.  This is a great opportunity for us to do the right thing, for the right reason at the right time. This crop of potatoes will provide food for a number of folks in and around Cleveland County.”
Miles Hamrick, Loan Officer in Shelby adds, “We feel like this project serves multiple purposes. It allows Carolina Farm Credit to be involved in the community, promote agriculture, and feed the hungry.”  Submitted By Tonie Turner

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