The third concert to benefit ACTS – Area Christians Together in Service – will take place at McGregor Hall on Saturday, Sept. 16. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program will begin at 7 p.m. ACTS Executive Director Lee Anne Peoples invites the community to come out and enjoy the music – it’s for a good cause.
Tickets are $5 to attend the “Make A Joyful Noise Unto The Lord” benefit concert, Peoples said. Children 12 and under get in free.
Tracy Dalton is cook and kitchen manager for the food bank and meal ministry that operates on William Street, and she’s just one of the featured acts on the program. ACTS volunteer and vocalist Evelyn Couch will perform as well. And Peoples said there is plenty of room on the program for additional individuals and groups to join in.
“The money goes into our general operating fund,” Peoples explained on Wednesday’s TownTalk. In addition to the cost of the food itself, there are the indirect costs associated with the Monday-Friday hot meal distribution that takes place from 11 a.m. to 12 noon.
On a normal day, she said more than 200 folks come by to pick up plates. Add the 40 or so mobile meals that go out and the daily number of meals served can easily be between 250 and 275.
Those associated costs include things like paper products needed to package the meals, as well as utility bills, she noted. “There’s a lot of dishes to wash up” after preparing all that food, she said.
“Everything has really gone up,” Peoples said, referring to increased prices for everything that goes into providing the hot meals and food boxes for households.
What else has gone up?
The need in the community.
“We have seen an increased need,” she said. ACTS served close to 50,000 meals in 2022, and that number is not going down.
The first concert was held in 2018, and Peoples said this year’s event is sure to please.
There are sponsorship levels available for the concert. Sponsor names will appear in the glossy, full-color program that will be available at the concert. Platinum level is a full-page ad for $1,000; Gold level is a half page for $500; and Silver level is a business card size for $250.
It probably comes as no surprise that the food pantry shelves could use some more items, too.
“We’re really low in the pantry now,” Peoples said.
Donations of shelf-stable food can be made any time between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, although it would be wonderful to avoid the 11 a.m. to noontime hour when they’re serving meals, Peoples said.
There is a list of useful items on the ACTS of Henderson Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ACTSofHenderson/
Any type of canned meat, vegetable or fruit would be a big help – but they have ample green beans, green peas and corn at this time.
Mail monetary donations to: ACTS of Vance County, Inc.
P.O. Box 25
Henderson, NC 27536
Learn more about how to help ACTS through donations or by volunteering by contacting Peoples at lapeoples@actsofhenderson.org.
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