Attendees of our 2023 Congress in Charleston, South Carolina might remember choosing one of three local charities to receive funding from the WMS as part of our Legacy Tokens scheme. Our 2023 beneficiary charities were the Lowcountry Food Bank, Carolina Youth Development Center and the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), who each shared a portion of our £10,000 legacy donation.

As a result of delegates voting with their Legacy Tokens, the £10,000 donation was split with MDA getting the most votes and receiving £4,051, Lowcountry Food Bank getting the second most votes and receiving £3,279 and Carolina Youth Development Center getting the fewest votes and receiving £2,660.

Katherine Ruzhansky, a member of the WMS 2023 Local Organising Committee, lives locally to Charleston and has been visiting our Legacy Token beneficiary charities.

At the Lowcountry Food Bank (LFB), Katherine met Brenda Shaw and had a tour of the facility. Katherine said: "It was truly an amazing experience. The LFB is a remarkable organisation that helps remedy food insecurity in South Carolina. It distributed 39 million pounds of food in 2022.

"The facility in Charleston has a food pantry. There are two food pantries in South Carolina (Yamasee and Myrtle Beach), and they are working on adding a third in a very underserved county (Hampton). It has broken ground and should be opening this year.

"LFB has adapted a “Hub and Spoke” model, in which there are partner agency hubs, and those agencies deliver the food to people who need it. The partner agencies can order what they need through an online portal, “agency express,” which allows them to see in real time the inventory at the warehouse. When the orders come in, volunteers help pack boxes, which are then delivered to the partner agencies and distributed.

"Additionally, there are programmes for the elderly, school children, and basically anyone can get the food that they need from the pantry. They also distribute baby formula and personal hygiene items. The Lowcountry Food Bank has retail partners (large chain grocery stores) who donate items to the pantries."

At the Carolina Youth Development Center, formerly the Charleston Orphan House, Katherine learned that there has been a charitable organisation based there since 1790. She visited with her administrative assistant and their daughters and said: “Back in the day, the Board of Directors would have to watch the children and ensure that they were engaging in activities during the day.

"Times have changed, and this organisation now has residential programmes for children in foster care. They have kids staying with them for anywhere between a few days to several years. They have entertainment and vocational programmes for these kids. Their current chef spent time as a resident as a child and went on to have a successful military and culinary career, and came back to help out.”

They will use the donation toward development of the programmes.

Katherine also met with the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), who followed up with an email that said: "I am happy to share that the donation from WMS will stay local to help support our local Family Getaway in Randleman, NC in October 2024. Family Getaways offer individuals living with neuromuscular disease and their families fun and meaningful recreation experiences. Families will take part in a wide variety of exciting and accessible programming that provides opportunities to connect both as a family and with our MDA Community.

“We can’t thank you enough. If there is anything that we can do, please do not hesitate to reach out.”

Katherine is looking forward to volunteering with the Lowcountry Food Bank herself in the near future and we will be issuing legacy tokens once again at WMS 2024 and supporting three good causes in Prague.