Hunger never takes a summer vacation

HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY DURING A PANDEMIC

BY LYDIA CHENEY, HUNGER & FOOD INSECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIR

The Hunger and Food Insecurity Sub-Committee is part of the Community Ministries Team. Since March 2020, this smaller group has been addressing food needs in our community.

Early in the pandemic, the IPC Food Pantry was forced to close and has not yet reopened. A team member suggested we establish another way to offer food to our neighbors. After some research, we purchased two large, outdoor-friendly cabinets, which we named Blessing Boxes to hold canned and packaged food as well as paper products/hygiene items.

They are placed outside near the Community Ministries entry near the IPC storage door on 31st Street. Each week a group of dedicated volunteers, called Pantry Partners, purchases food and hygiene items for both containers. Items go fast, especially paper and hygiene, as food stamps do not cover the cost of most paper and cleaning products necessary for a home.

Access to Blessing Boxes is from 10 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday. Staff have observed that the hygiene cabinet is emptied almost every day. With the exceptions of canned meats, dry milk, snacks, and pop-top fruit items, food items don’t go quite as fast on a regular basis. How many people visit the Blessing Boxes? We do not have a firm count as the cabinets do not have a “counter” mechanism for how many times the doors are opened. What’s the monetary value of the contents of both cabinets? When fully stocked, a recent survey/tally showed the value to be approximately $500.

Blessing Box users include individuals, families, and nearby homeless communities. Mrs. S., a woman in her 40's told a volunteer, “I don’t know what I’d do without this. I lost my job in the pandemic and my husband is barely working.”

Another homeless man told a staff member, “Your church has kept a group of us alive with your food.”

The Pantry Partners are faithful supporters of this effort. Other generous donors have provided funds, both cash gifts and endowed funds.

The sub-committee (Lydia Cheney, Susan Dukes, Anna James, Pat Lazarus, Pam McLean, Betsy Middlebrooks, Melissa Robinett, Liz Saunders, and David Woodruff) anticipates the need for Blessing Boxes will extend beyond 2021.

We thank everyone who has supported this program to make it successful.

IPC Blessing Boxes

PLEASE HELP US STOCK SUMMER ESSENTIALS

• Water bottles & Gatorade (individual sizes)

• Canned meats

• Peanut butter

• Jelly

• Fruit cups

• Pop-top canned fruit and soups

• Powdered milk

• Toothbrushes

• Toothpaste • Deodorant

• Toilet paper

• Paper towels

• Laundry detergent (small)

• Pet food (small bags & cans for dogs and cats)

Thank you for your extra compassion and quick response! Questions: Contact Lisa Holloway at lholloway@ipc-usa.org or (205) 933-3725

MEMBERS OF SUSAN CLAYTON’S BIBLE STUDY GROUP VOLUNTEERING AT FIRST LIGHT IN JUNE.

Hunger Never Takes a Summer Vacation

BY REV. MELISSA SELF PATRICK, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY MINISTRIES AND OUTREACH

This summer, IPC Community Ministries is paying close attention to the people behind newly released poverty data. Alabama Possible’s “Barriers to Prosperity” Data Sheet 2021 reports that 16.2% of Jefferson County residents struggle below the poverty thresholds (1 person, $13,000 annual income; 4 people, $26,172 annual income). Of our neighbors and beloved families we serve who are struggling in poverty, 22.5% (or approximately 150,730) are children, and 20% of Jefferson County children are food insecure (14.4% total number of people in Jefferson County are food insecure).

Get involved and help IPC Community Ministries provide extra support for our vulnerable, food insecure, and temporarily unhoused neighbors:

First Light Shelter for Homeless Women and Children

IPC is providing and serving supper for 30 women and children at First Light, August 22-28. We are in need of volunteers and supper for each night that week. You can sign up online at ipc-usa.org/connect.

Donate to the Blessing Box Food Ministry

Donations can be dropped off or sent via a delivery service from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday to IPC Community Ministries' entrance on 31st St. South. You can also make a financial contribution online at ipcusa.org.

Help Feed Neighbors in Need

We're helping Highlands UMC to provide 50 sacked lunches every Tuesday for the homeless. You can sign up online at ipc-usa.org/connect.

Creative Ways To Meet Need

In addition to the Blessing Boxes, the Community Ministries Team discovered and developed new, creative partnerships during the pandemic.

We expanded our relationship with City Meats in Woodlawn and have sent up to 75 households per week to this family-run grocery store, where they receive non-perishable food as well as two kinds of meat, two bags of frozen vegetables, and fresh milk and eggs.

The silver lining is that we are able to serve double the number of people previously served in our Food Pantry, and these neighbors, friends, and STAIR families only have to make one stop instead of the usual two-stop, pre Covid-19 process. Our team is discerning whether or not to maintain this process after summer.

We have also appreciated partnerships with Rojo and Bogue’s restaurants, who with our congregation’s support, provided thousands of free meals for our neighbors.

With summer’s arrival and their businesses picking up, both have decided to bring this pandemic partnership program to a close. We are thankful for the owners and friends at Rojo and Bogue’s and encourage you to thank them next time you dine with them.