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Community Focus … Have You Heard of Harvest Time International?
By NJWrites
Many people may not realize that we have a great community and global outreach right in our own backyard. Harvest Time International supplies food and clothing to hundreds of families throughout Central Florida and thousands throughout the world.
In 1997, HTI opened their doors in Sanford Florida. The facility was 20,000 s.f. and they were able to distribute 4,500,000 lbs worth of goods by 1998. The donations kept increasing and soon they were in need of a bigger facility. In 1999, Harvest Time introduced the Community Assistance Program which enabled them to open their doors to the public. This program helps low income and financially distressed families from having to rely on government assistance programs or social aid. Needy families are provided with food and household products.
Not wanting to leave the Sanford area, in 2000 HTI moved into a 30,000 s.f. building around the corner from the first. This facility housed the corporate international headquarters of Harvest Time International for several years. In 2001, the CAP program continued to increase, so HTI gained an additional 16,000 s.f. facility for the program. At that time there were over 14,000 members of the CAP program. HTI trained and assisted in getting 12 more of these programs started in Florida, Illinois, New York, and North Carolina. All together this program assists over 50,000 families throughout these regions. Harvest Time International has networked with over 500 non-profit organizations, churches and outreach missions in the USA. These then reach 80 nations overseas. In December 2006, HTI moved their operations to their new 100,000 s.f. facilities. This new building has been named the Global Mission Center.
Harvest Time has many events throughout the year to assist needy families one of which is their Christmas Bag of Joy event. This past Christmas over 2,000 parents or guardians were able to sign up their children for the event. The children had a play area while the parents went into the “toy store†where they could pick out two free gifts per child. 7,000 children were registered and given two gifts this year. Harvest Time supplied a wonderful memory of Christmas Joy for over 2,000 local families this year.
You may wonder who would start such a wonderful outreach. John and Mary Murphy believed this to be their mission in life starting back in 1994 distributing food and clothing to those in need from their home. This outreach started in their garage many years ago, but has now become a great help for thousands of people around the world.
John and Mary Murphy (Founder of Harvest Time International)
If you are a family in need or would like to know more about HTI and the many programs and events they have to offer, please call them at 407-328-9900. HTI relies on volunteers to help make things happen. You can call for more information on volunteering opportunities.
Community Assistance Program (CAP)
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