Wingos’ Hunger Christmas Tree helps St. Andrew’s

MADISON – At Madison Drugs, Terry and Resha Wingo and their staff are helping needy individuals to have healthy food with a rather usual Christmas tree.

For several years, their Hunger Christmas Tree has encouraged customers to buy an “I Care!” ornament. All ornament donations benefit Society of St. Andrew, a faith-based non-profit organization that recovers food across the United States. Volunteers recover is fresh, locally grown vegetables and fruit by ‘gleaning’ the ‘leftovers’ from farmers’ fields.

“We often host crop drops, where 20,000 to 40,000 pounds of potatoes or apples are bagged into smaller quantities by volunteers,” St. Andrew’s spokesperson Mary Lynn Botts said.

The Hunger Christmas Tree at Madison Drugs “is really a unique way for customers to give back to the community,” Botts said.

Located at 8 Parade St. in Huntsville’s Providence neighborhood, Madison Drugs was founded in 1985. “We are a compounding and natural products pharmacy. Our mission is providing individualized care to enable better health,” Terry Wingo said.

The Wingos wanted their Hunger Christmas Tree “to support local mission/ministry needs that helped make our customers aware of local outreach opportunities and provided a way for them to get involved,” Terry Wingo said.

A customer can donate an amount of their choice for an I Care! ornament. “If the donation is $20 or more, we give a thank-you gift, which includes a $10-off massage coupon, a $20-off facial coupon and a tube of our new winter hand moisturizer.”

The Hunger Christmas Tree yielded $3,000 to Society of St. Andrew in 2015.

Botts said more than 133 billion pounds of food is wasted each year nationally. “About one-third of food grown on farms is not marketable, due to blemishes, shape, and size but is still wonderfully nutritious and yummy. Farmers are more than willing to donate what would otherwise be left to rot.”

In 2015, the society gleaned just over 1 million pounds in Alabama, giving 3 million servings of healthy food distributed to local feeding ministries and state organizations.

“We greatly appreciate financial support given to us by many customers of Madison Drugs,” Botts said. “We can do so much more to feed the hungry in our community because of Terry and Resha’s generous hearts.”

For more information, email botts@knology.net or visit endhunger.org.