For many, the free Bucky Covington concert in downtown Rockingham Saturday will be an opportunity to see a friend and neighbor who has finally arrived.

However, one of Covington’s reasons for doing the show is to call attention to a couple of local charities that offer something people help all the time.

Attendees of the 7 p.m. show at Harrington Square are being encouraged to bring non-perishable food items and canned goods to donate to Backpack Pals of Richmond County and Our Daily Bread Christian Food Ministry located at First United Methodist Church in Rockingham.

“When I was on American Idol the whole town pulled together — all of the business, churches — everyone,” Covington said. “They all went above and beyond to help out and show me their support. Now it’s my time to give back.”

For some Saturday will be too long to wait to help one of these causes, however.

Those who wish to donate things like fruit and pudding cups, pop-top cans of soup or beanee-weenies or Vienna sausages, fruit roll-ups, individual servings of cereal, apple sauce or granola bars to Backpack Pals can do so by dropping off the items at any county elementary school. They can also drop the items off at Bobby’s Furniture or Clewis Service Center, both in Hamlet.

Monetary donations to Backpack Pals must be made out to Helping Hands, the 501 (c) 3 non-profit which heads the effort up, and mailed to 615 Cheraw Road, Hamlet, 28345.

Hamlet Church of God of Prophecy Pastor Steve Crews coordinates Backpack Pals and Helping Hands, and said he first recognized a need for the program in Richmond County when he was exposed to it in Moore County in 2007.

When Covington arrives Friday, he will assist Backpack Pals in filling up hundreds of book bags with food to send home with needy kids for the weekend.

“We started giving food to children at Rohanen Primary in 2007,” Crews said. “We went to the school and talked to them about identifying kids that looked like they had little or nothing to eat over the weekend when they came back to school Monday.”

He said the school identified 38 students then, but as it expanded to other schools, there were about 325 backpacks being sent out a week by the end of last school year.

“This year I think it’s going to be more,” he said. “We’re also looking at expanding into a couple of the area middle schools if the funds are available.”

He said the cost of packing one of the backpacks is $30 if you walk into the grocery store and buy the supplies, though he receives some of the items at a discounted rate.

“As requests come, we’ll keep doing it until it gets to the place we can’t handle all of them,” he said. “But, this has given some good P.R., and caused a stir in the community, so hopefully we’ll get a lot of donations.”

Storage for the food is provided for free by the McLaurin Vocational Center in Hamlet.

By the end of the week, Crews said there will be a Web site where people can give using Pay Pal. The address is backpackpalsrc.com.

Donations to Our Daily Bread Christian Food Ministry may be dropped off at 106 E. Randolph St. in Rockingham.

The ministry asks for any non-perishable goods and canned goods, especially vegetables and meat, according to it director.

Food Ministry Director Debbie Rohleder explained the work of providing for the needy is becoming more expensive by the month.

“The prices at grocery stores, as I’m sure our clients are aware of, have significantly increased,” Rohleder said.

She illustrated the needs of people in the county by telling the story of a woman who is 72, and came to her explaining her husband is 75. They take care of his brother who has cancer and is in his 70’s and are raising her 5-year-old great grandson.

“A lot of the people we help, their only income is their Social Security, and they are based on pre-inflation prices,” Rohleder said. “A lot of these are, of course, retired mill workers who are now raising their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and they’re doing it on a fixed income that is well below federal poverty guidelines.”

She said the ministry assists approximately 600 to 650 families a month.

“Typically, that means 1,400 to 1,600 people,” she said. “This should help, and we appreciate Bucky coming back to his roots and helping the people of Richmond County. It’s nice to have the hometown boy coming back as our hero and doing something good for the community.”