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What difference can one person make?

Sherry Tow  was on the telephone with her brother,  a case worker with The Servant Center, who mentioned that the food pantry there is  empty by 2 p.m. every day  and what an awful feeling it is to send people away without any food.

“We’re a very emotional family, and I started to cry,” she recalled. “What upset me and made me cry was how it pained him to send people away without anything. We live in one of the richest countries in the world, and it’s just not right. It’s just not right.”

Tow immediately thought of donating bags of  groceries, but she knew that  couldn’t possibly be enough.

“I thought, 'Wow I’m just one person. What kind of dent can I make?’ ” she recalled.

She started thinking about what she could do to spread the word. About two weeks ago, she made a flier appealing for donations and distributed it in her Kinglet Commons neighborhood in the Lake Jeanette area.

“I gave them a deadline,” said Tow, who worked  in marketing and advertising before battling an illness. “I sent it out on Thursday, and by Saturday night I had a ton of food — neighbors dropped off food all day.”

It filled her garage.

It ended up being the largest private donation that The Servant Center, which helps the low-income and disabled, had ever received.

Since that first pick up, others have dropped off another 25 pounds of food.

She could hardly contain herself as she went back around with another flier, thanking her neighbors for their generosity.

“I wanted them to know how personally grateful I was for what we could do together,” Tow said.

On Sunday, during an open forum at her church, Covenant Presbyterian, she shared her experience and suggested  others might do the same.

“Just think if every neighborhood got together and did what we were able to accomplish, how many more  people could be fed,” Tow said.

Just imagine.

Looking for a neighborhood project to tackle?

The Operation Greensboro Cares fundraising drive (http://unitedwaygso.org/GreensboroCares), led by the United Way and including the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, the News & Record and other media partners,  is asking for donations to help meet a growing demand for emergency food and shelter in the city.

The fund  had raised $44,103 as of Friday.

Requests for shelter are up 32 percent at the Salvation Army of Greensboro. Greensboro Urban Ministry has seen a 30 percent rise in assistance requests. Shelters are crowded. Food pantries are nearly bare.

Donations will be distributed to FaithAction International House (www.faihouse.org, 379-0037); Greensboro Urban Ministry (www.greensboro
urbanministry.org; 271-5959); Lutheran Family Services (www.lfscarolinas.org; 553-1501); Salvation Army of Greensboro (www.salvationarmyusa.org; 273-5572); Senior Resources of Guilford (www.senior-resources-guilford.org; 373-4816); and The Servant Center (www.the
servantcenter.org; 275-8585).

You can help by making a tax-deductible donation at Operation Greensboro Cares’ Web site or sending a check to Operation Greensboro Cares, P.O. Box 14985 Greensboro, NC  27405. Number is 378-6600. If you want to volunteer, call the Volunteer Center of Greensboro at 373-1633.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy. mclaughlin@news-record.com