How a Myrtle Beach ministry, inn and bar are teaming up to feed the needy on Christmas
Those in need in Myrtle Beach will have a place to eat in the heart of the city on Christmas Day.
Sonshine Recovery Ministries, St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, and the owners of Barnacle Bill’s Rum & Raw Bar and the Midtown Inn & Cottages, which are both located on 8th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach, are joining forces to feed the homeless and needy.
A free lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Christmas Day in the parking lot of the Midtown Inn.
Sonshine Recovery Ministries is staging the meal, the Greek church is providing the food, Dominion Church in Darlington is supplying the beverages, and Barnacle Bill’s is giving up its kitchen for the food preparation.
This is the fourth year that the ministry and the Midtown Inn are providing free meals both at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Sonshine pastor and founder Tim Carter expects to feed 450 people, but is prepared to provide more meals if needed. The meals are for anyone who is hungry.
“We’ve just gotten huge support for this and it gets bigger every year,” said Carter, who returned Thursday from delivering supplies to tornado victims in Kentucky. “We don’t want anybody to be alone and hungry during the holidays.”
More than food will be provided at this year’s meal.
Marnie Kennedy of Project Cheer 2021 has assembled gift bags for every child at the lunch, as 150 backpacks with the ministry name and website will be packed with toys, candy, socks, gloves and other items such as toiletries. Area philanthropist Martina Corley has been collecting donations from individuals and businesses, as well, to aid the cause.
“We’ve just had so many people want to be a part of it,” Carter said, “and this year we’ve got toys for kids, making sure kids have Christmas, and we’ve got another group that called and they’re giving out 250 bags of food for people to take home to cook later. It’s just showing God’s love to those in need.”
Sonshine Recovery Ministries, which Carter said relies on donations and does not receive state or federal grants, works with drug addicts, alcoholics and the homeless. The ministry currently has a recovery home for men in Georgetown, but it is purchasing a house in Lake City that will become a 16-bed men’s facility and allow the Georgetown home to become a 10-bed facility for women.
Carter does mobile work as well. “I’m all over the streets of Myrtle Beach, and we have a lot of support outside of Myrtle Beach,” he said.
Sonshine has recently partnered with the non-denominational Beach Church of Myrtle Beach, which supports the ministry financially and with office space.
The Midtown Inn has a history of philanthropy.
Inn owner Jaret Hucks allowed people who were driven from their homes by flood waters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in 2018 to stay in his 52-room inn for free. The generosity was featured on the CBS Evening News.
“We’re pretty base central to the majority of the homeless I would say, and during Hurricane Florence the owner of the Midtown offered his property to a lot of people who became homeless during that, and it kind of branched out from there,” said Theresa Willey, the Midtown Inn’s five-year general manager.
Organizers are accepting donations at the event, as well.
“We’re so thankful for Gauge [Lindsay] opening up his kitchen, and for Jaret and his giving heart,” Carter said. “There’s just so many in Myrtle Beach that people wouldn’t even imagine would be out to help and to do for folks. It just shows the support and love of Myrtle Beach.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2021 at 8:45 AM.
