Todd Gerhart, A Man with a Big Heart

Todd Gerhart, A Man with a Big Heart

“The world is not dangerous because of those that do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything.” Albert Einstein

Todd Gerhart is a man who looks at the world very clearly and sees a lot of things that need doing. Why should a person living on these islands go hungry, he wonders? Why should a person be without decent clothes, a few sheets for the bed and some towels that still have nap on them? Yet all of this is happens on these islands, and most of us never see it.

Todd owns the Ice Cream Shop as well as the Ship Store in Bohicket Marina. He and his wife, Kathy, have lived here for nine years. They hail from Orville, Ohio, home of Smuckers jams and jellies.

He started taking notice of people on the island when a small family came into the Ice Cream shop selling honey baked ham cards. That prompted him to visit with the principal at Mt Zion. He discovered that the fifth graders were short on money for a trip to Washington, DC. He helped them to raise money and gave some himself. That small incident is what got him started on trying to help the kids that live and go to school on Johns Island, something that has become a lifelong endeavor.

He visits the schools in the area every few days. He noticed the youngsters do not have many books at home, so he has made efforts to help kids build a library of their own. He noticed that getting and staying on the honor roll was an effort that could use some attention, so he came up with the idea of giving the kids who made the honor roll or the Principal’s list some free ice cream.

All of this led him ultimately to Backpack Buddies, a non‐profit that operates on both Seabrook and Kiawah islands. Backpack supplies food for kids to take home with them over the week‐end so they will not go hungry while away from their school provided meals. It costs $195 to fund a backpack child for the school year. Todd and Kathy started the Chili Cook Off several years ago and have raised over $34,000 to help kids on the islands. He got companies to set up tables and make chili. He and his wife fund the expenses so that everything that he raises can go to Backpack Buddies. Todd was honored for his charitable works with the Angel Oak Award by the Exchange Club of Kiawah and Seabrook, and with that honor came $5,000. He split the check in two and gave the Seabrook and Kiawah island chapters of Backpack Buddies $2500 each.

He has found a way to recycle sheets and towels from rental agencies when they are discarding the old ones for newer models. He has delivered truckloads of these goods to many families on the island, supplying them with products they wouldn’t otherwise have.

Todd notes this can be a discouraging venture. Six of the eight worst high schools are in Charleston County. These high schools graduated 544 kids in 2015. Of those 544, only 9 were ACT ready for college. Todd serves on a Task Force for District Nine which includes Angel Oak, Mt. Zion, Haut Gap and St Johns High. The task force reports to the Charleston County School Board. In such a setting, it can prove difficult to get people to take accountability for various actions occurring at the school level, but he keeps at it nonetheless.

One of the nine children who graduated ready for college works for Todd at the Ice Cream shop. She has a 3.65 average and wants to go into accounting. He asked her what motivated her to do so well in high school. She said: “I don’t want to live like I’m living.”

That’s what keeps him going.

– Barbara Burgess, Tidelines Staff Writer