The Rev. Nels Ledwell checks on a cow at Outreach Farm in Pawleys Island, S.C. UMNS photos by Heidi Robinson.

By Heidi Robinson*
Jan. 21, 2009 | PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. (UMNS)

Cows graze on 70 acres of rolling fields dotted with barns, farm equipment and farm workers tending the herd.

At a glance, you’d never know the man with the feed bucket also pastors a flock. Most every Sunday, folks can find the Rev. Nels Ledwell in the pulpit at St. Paul’s Waccamaw United Methodist Church. You will also find this pastor working the pasture.

"Come on, boys. Come on, bulls," Ledwell calls to three 900-pound animals as he dumps dinner into their trough.

"Another healthy steer that will feed hungry people," Ledwell says, as a bull trots back to the fields.

The 70 head of cattle grazing these fields belong to Outreach Farm, a nonprofit organization that delivers meat to homeless shelters, soup kitchens and children’s homes along the South Carolina coast. The farm provides the possibility of protein — the most expensive and, as a result, most expendable part of the daily diet for people who are poor.

"Up here, I guess I’d call myself minister of herd health and minister to volunteers,” Ledwell says with a laugh, as he checks the weight of a young bull. “Nine hundred ninety pounds, stands tall, clear eyes, this fella looks good.”

Farm roots

Ledwell grew up on a cattle farm, and even after his call to ministry, still maintains a family farm in another part of the state. When he received his appointment to a church in the affluent, resort town of Pawleys Island, Ledwell told his new congregation that he didn’t play golf.

“But I told them I sure could graze a lot of cows on their golf course,” he quips.

Turns out, the local links were safe. Community members invited the cowboy pastor to see the budding work at Outreach Farm in Hemingway, about a 30-minute drive away from the beaches of Pawleys Island. Ledwell discovered an opportunity to merge ministry and life experience.

Retired accountant George Harmon is a member of St. Paul’s Waccamaw United Methodist Church and now a volunteer at Outreach Farm.

“For years we supported food drives, and after a time, I realized there wasn’t any meat donated, and no way to donate meat,” Harmon says. “You give noodles and canned food, but where is the protein?”

Harmon, 56, works on the fences, barns and equipment with members of his church and volunteers from other area churches. Like all the volunteers, he has seen the herd grow, alongside the list of people needing the farm’s help. Outreach Farm now provides beef to 10 agencies feeding the needy, and it has a waiting list of organizations that want to be added.

“We know where the food is going,” Harmon says. “We know we are doing something important.”

Hungry boys

The dozen boys who call Tara Hall home would agree. Outreach Farm volunteers make regular deliveries to the private residential facility that takes in boys when their families can no longer care for them.

“These are the best burgers!” exclaims a blond 13-year-old as he bites into dinner, courtesy of Outreach Farm.

Tara Hall focuses on the whole boy, offering nutritious food, on-site classrooms and acres of woods to explore. It operates almost entirely on donations.

“We receive 40 pounds of beef a month from the Outreach Farm. It makes a lot of meals for some hungry boys,” says Patsy Morris, assistant director at Tara Hall.

Not only does the meat feed the children, it also helps the facility’s budget.

“Beef is very expensive, and if we can receive 30 or 40 pounds in a month, that helps us do more for the children. It helps us keep doors open,” Morris says.

“These children may one day give back to someone less fortunate because they’ve been helped.”

43,000 and counting

From the tenderloin to the rib-eye, all of the Grade A beef from Outreach Farm becomes hamburger.

“Some people just give the needy their leftovers. We’re raising top-quality, farm-grazed beef just for them,” Ledwell says. “The folks who come to these kitchens are just worried about their next meal. We want to be sure they have quality food.”

Outreach Farm provided 43,000 portions of beef to hungry people in 2008, and the goal is to push that number higher this year. Many churches participate in the effort —some offering freezer space, others transportation for deliveries.

Chuck Bingemer, 73, who is retired from the Navy, enjoys the camaraderie of working the farm with the men from St. Paul’s Waccamaw United Methodist Church.

“We know we’re doing something that makes a difference,” Bingemer says.

The hungry aren’t the only people who benefit from Outreach Farm. Volunteers, who have often never farmed before, learn that their labor can help a child go to bed with a full stomach.

“When we’re out here working, getting our hands dirty or delivering beef to the soup kitchens, then these hands become the hands of God,” Ledwell says. “People actually see the difference they are making in the lives of people who need them.”

More information is available at St. Paul’s Waccamaw United Methodist Church’s Web site at www.saintpaulsumc.com.

*Robinson is a freelance producer based in Winston-Salem, N.C.

News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Protein for the Poor

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Resources:

St. Paul's Waccamaw United Methodist Church

The Outreach Farm

South Carolina Conference