‘A much grimmer holiday’ for Mississippians in need, but Coast groups step up to serve
The coronavirus pandemic has left more South Mississippians facing the prospect of a hungry Thanksgiving, and local food banks, soup kitchens and individuals are stepping up to meet the need.
Before the pandemic, 17.7% of Harrison County residents were food insecure, meaning that they couldn’t always afford the food they need, according to data collected by the nonprofit Feeding America. Since March, that figure has risen to 22.4%. The proportion of food-insecure children has risen from 20.9% to 30.3%.
Food insecurity has risen across South Mississippi, said Cyndy Baggett, vice president of development and marketing at Feeding the Gulf Coast. In the eight counties her organization serves, the number of food insecure individuals has risen from one in six to one in five since the pandemic began; of children, from one in five to one in three.
“This is going to be the first time so many people who had not experienced that before really do struggle with this,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a much grimmer holiday, especially when you factor in possibly the lack of families being able to get together to celebrate.”
Many people who never before used food pantries have now sought their support, Baggett said. In April and May, traffic to her organization’s website was up 1,000%.
So far, Feeding the Gulf Coast has been able to expand services to meet the need, but the pandemic has also compounded the challenge. Early in the pandemic, when grocery store shortages were widespread, food banks couldn’t rely on donations of surplus goods from retailers.
That meant they had to purchase more food. But with organizations around the country doing the same thing, delivery times for orders shot up from a few weeks to a few months.
Mississippi’s largest soup kitchen, Feed My Sheep in Gulfport, has already served more meals this year than it did in all of 2019, said board chairman David Lion. In October, they served almost twice as many meals as they did in October 2019.
Because of the pandemic, the organization switched from dine-in service to grab-and-go meals. Feed My Sheep needed more volunteers to meet the increased demand.
“People recognize that there’s a lot of hardship out there, so I think they’re kind of stepping up when they can,” Lion said.
But at Back Bay Mission, staff have seen a decrease in donations since the pandemic began, said Kenney Washington, director of client services.
“We had people that were providing donations to us, then they became our clients because of a reduction of hours, or they’re no longer working because of covid,” he said. “They once were a donor, now they’re receiving donations.”
Some MS Coast food banks see less demand
There are signs that nonprofits, plus extra help from the federal government, have been able to rise to the challenges brought by the coronavirus pandemic.
Some food pantries told the Sun Herald that their client numbers are actually down over this time last year.
Back Bay Mission’s holiday initiative is food baskets for Christmas. This year, they’ll be providing 125, down from 150, with the need determined based on the number of clients visiting their food pantry. Washington said that he thinks people have benefited from increased government support, as well as more food drives and giveaways in the community.
Our Daily Bread in Pascagoula served 200 to 250 meals a day before the pandemic. Lately, said Blake Ball, assistant to the director, they’ve served about 130. That’s a slight increase from earlier months during the pandemic.
Ball thinks the decline in clients wasn’t a reflection of less need, but rather of greater anxiety about coming into contact with others. Many of the soup kitchen’s clients are homeless and didn’t have face masks, Ball said, though Our Daily Bread provided them to clients.
“I believe it was more that they were scared,” he said of the reason for the drop. “There’s always demand for food around here.”
At the Lord Is My Help in Ocean Springs, 90 people received Thanksgiving baskets stocked with a turkey, stuffing mix, potatoes, and pie ingredients on Monday. Last year, 145 people signed up for the baskets.
“The first two weeks [after the pandemic began] we were slammed, people coming for the food pantry,” Ruddiman said. “But after that my numbers have gone down.”
Ruddiman said she’s not sure exactly why, but assumes that federal pandemic unemployment benefits have staved off a more dramatic increase in need.
‘You can still make somebody else’s day better’
Deborah Smith, an elder at House of Healing Christian Assembly in Gulfport, said her church started serving grab-and-go meals four days a week when the pandemic began, up from hot meals once a month. They were able to do that thanks to an increase in donations, and because they had stocked up on canned food and other supplies in the year before the pandemic.
On Sunday, they served more than 100 people a hot Thanksgiving lunch outside.
“The pandemic has really moved us into greater ministry,” Smith said.
Beyond churches and food pantries and soup kitchens, individuals, too, are working to provide Thanksgiving meals to people in need.
Bev Bisbee, a 33-year-old mom of seven in Long Beach, has always cooked a Thanksgiving meal with plenty to share with guests and friends in need of a place to spend the holiday.
Last year, while living outside of Seattle, Washington, she decided to expand that practice to prepare plates for 25 people in need.
She and her family moved to Mississippi in February. She hasn’t been able to go back to work because her kids’ school schedule still has them spending so many days at home. When classes resumed in August, Long Beach students alternated one week on-campus and one week of distance learning at home. And a few of her kids have also had to quarantine after COVID-19 exposure.
That’s created a financial strain that will affect the family’s holiday season. But Bisbee is still making a huge Thanksgiving meal and offering a plate to anyone who wants one. Her menu is turkey, stuffing, homemade gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and homemade bread. Her kids, ages 2 to 13, will help with baking pies.
“We feel it’s really important to teach our kids that even when you might really have nothing, you can still make somebody else’s day better by giving back,” she said.
Feed My Sheep is closed the day after Thanksgiving, but HARRISON COUNTY FEED THE NEEDY.
South Mississippians in need of food assistance can call 1-888-704-FOOD to get help from Feeding the Gulf Coast.
This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
