Although the year may have stalled for some due to the pandemic, others, such as those with Greenwood nonprofits, have stayed busy trying to address the increased need for help.
“What prompted us was the need here,” said Debra Adams, who leads the Greenwood Community Center with her husband, Earnest. “It was a huge need and we saw that need early on, even prior to the pandemic.”
She and her husband, who’s originally from Greenwood, moved to Greenwood from Georgia in 2019. They saw then that there is a need for food, clothing and shelter.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, those needs have only increased as people’s livelihoods have been affected by the coronavirus.
Though the Community Center has not been able to provide shelter, Adams said it has been able to distribute food and clothing.
From late May until the end of October, the center worked with the Mississippi Food Network to distribute free food boxes packed with fresh produce, milk and other products to residents.
About 1,200 of these food boxes, which were provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program, were given away each month, Adams said.
On one distribution day, Adams said, the 800 food boxes that were available were not enough. A long line of people in cars had formed near the Community Center’s building on Avenue I.
“People couldn’t go to work. People lost jobs because the places that they were working at didn’t have those jobs anymore,” Adams said, adding that members of the community had even asked if the Community Center was hiring.
Some of those whom the Community Center served were large families, meaning that ordinary government assistance was not enough for them and that they had to seek other resources, including the Community Center, to receive food during the pandemic, Adams said.
While the food box program has ended, Adams said the Community Center still provides a weekly hot dog meal giveaway held in conjunction with You Matter Ministries, another community organization, as well backpack meal giveaways for students.
The pandemic has also affected the Community Center since it stopped people from either donating money or helping with volunteer work to complete the renovation of the Community Center’s building on Avenue I.
Still, even without a physical center opened yet and by partnering with other organizations, such as You Matter Ministries and Leflore Legacy Academy, Adams said the Community Center is still able to serve as a resource for the community.
Beginning in March, Capt. Keisha McMullin of The Salvation Army in Greenwood said she noticed an increased demand for social services offered by The Salvation Army. These include assistance with rent and utility bills, as well as food, clothing and getting a stay at a motel for up to five nights, since people were losing their jobs.
“With the pandemic, it forced us to change everything,” McMullin said, explaining that The Salvation Army temporarily closed its thrift store and for a time conducted meetings by phone for clients who needed social services.
McMullin said that for some of the clients it was their first time requesting help, something that may have been hard to do since they were used to providing for themselves.
Rachel Harvey, who leads The Salvation Army’s social services department, said job layoffs due to COVID-19 don’t just affect one person, but that person’s family as well and any other people who may have relied upon that person.
Most of the demand for help has been for paying the rent and utility bills, Harvey said.
For now The Salvation Army is able to offer $75 off any one person’s bill.
“It is overwhelming in that there’s only so much help we could offer,” she said.
For the month of November, The Salvation Army’s social services department dealt with 62 cases, ultimately helping 411 people with a mixture of bill payments as well as temporary housing.
Though it’s a trying time, McMullin remains adamant that The Salvation Army will continue to assist those in need. She noted that The Salvation Army, aside from financial assistance, is also able to offer emotional support through counseling and prayer.
Harvey added that The Salvation Army is also looking for volunteers to teach classes on topics such as budgeting.
One community organization that’s actually seen a decrease in its services is the Community Food Pantry.
Tommy Ellett, the director, said at the beginning of this year the Food Pantry served around 700 clients a month, many of whom are senior citizens. Now around 600 clients a month pick up a box of food, Ellett said.
Ellett doesn’t know why the demand for boxes of food at the food pantry has decreased, suggesting that it’s possible people may have gotten food from other community organizations that have given out food since COVID-19 emerged.
Even then, like other organizations, Ellett said the pantry has had to make adjustments, now having volunteers load food boxes in clients’ vehicles since clients can no longer enter the pantry.
Additionally, Ellett said the food pantry is dealing with a limited workforce.
Despite these changes, Ellett said he’s thankful for the people who continue to volunteer with the Food Pantry as well as the organizations that continue to help with the donation of food.
“Our community has been so thoughtful and generous,” he said.
• Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
