Organizations find creative ways to fill hunger gaps
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(Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series about the exacerbation of food insecurity in Henrico during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
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On a recent Wednesday morning, John Huber, pastor at the Living Hope Church at 301 W. Nine Mile Road in Highland Springs, readies the church’s kitchen facilities as he prepared to pick up food from Marshall Johnson, the church’s drivers’ house, that had been collected from FeedMore’s distribution site for their second-and-fourth-Monday-of-the-month, 11 a.m. food distribution. Living Hope Church exclusively serves residents of the 23075 ZIP Code, which encompasses all of Highland Springs.
But Huber is concerned by the drop in recipients when there is such obvious need. His data shows 2,614 bags of food were distributed in 2020, down from 4,630 in 2019. Ellen Thornhill, FeedMore spokesperson, attributes that drop to the older nature of the people who frequent the church’s food ministry.
“Living Hope Church serves a disproportionately high number of 60 plus seniors who are the folks who turned away from food pantries in 2020, more than the 59 and younger crowd, because of the fear of the virus,” said Thornhill, whose data shows Living Hope Church’s food pantry numbers went from 160 a month before the pandemic to 95 recipients a month in 2020.
But Huber knows there is a bigger need in the Highland Springs community. Census data from 2019 shows the 23075 ZIP code’s median household income at $47,000. Another Highland Springs nonprofit, The Way, that fed the needy and some other churches in the area closed this year.
“We want to encourage people to come and take advantage of the food pantry,” said Huber who also operated a clothes closet for those in need. “We invite more people to volunteer here, and we want to meet the need of our neighbors.”
Mental health and music
Bringing groceries to those in need – including those recently released from incarceration – is a service the Atlantic Outreach Group, another food pantry in FeedMore’s network, located near the Willow Lawn area, emphasizes.
Motivated by the dangers of COVID, the cost of transportation for hourly workers and those on a limited budget, and the complicated logistics of the people they serve, on Tuesdays their mobile pantry drops 50 to 100 grocery bags to people in need with an emphasis on conversation and music.
Every week the group offers sustenance to 230 households, many of whom come to their pantry to pick up the groceries.
“People are dealing with so many barriers and stress, we also offer music if it helps them do away with that,” said Kheila Jones, Atlantic Outreach Group executive director. "There was already food insecurity here, COVID has made it worse. Many people are new to [dealing with food insecurity] and didn’t know how to navigate this. They didn’t feel comfortable needing a food pantry.
“Other people don’t know what to do when a relative passes from COVID. We’ve seen that they’re not able to get support. Many of our clients are left trying to survive on their own. Everyone is worried about COVID, and trying to maintain their housing as well.”
School nutrition help
For another group of citizens in need – children – Henrico County Public Schools Nutrition Services has played a key role in helping since the pandemic began.
“Currently, all students ages 18 and younger eat free due to the nationwide waiver issued in response to the pandemic,” said Dana Whitney, director of HCPS SNS, which began pandemic meal service March 17, 2020. “We have served almost 1,275,000 breakfasts and over 1,290,000 lunches (over 2,565,000 total meals) to date.”
The 2018-2019 school year is the last year in which HCPS followed the traditional eligibility structure through which families must qualify for free or reduced-price meals. That year, HCPS served 2,020,500 total breakfasts and 4,376,500 total lunches. Of that amount, 1,733,000 breakfasts and 3,016,500 lunches were provided to students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. Those totals do not include additional cash revenue from a la carte purchases.
The effort to feed students in need in neighborhoods while they have been learning from home has meant buses have made rounds to all schools as well as many neighborhoods, often multiple times a day, HCPS spokesperson Andy Jenks said.
“We are thrilled to be playing a role in making free meals available to all students,” said Jenks.
During a recent snow day, many raised alarms about students in need not being able to get the crucial food distribution. A number of parents who are members of the Henrico Moms Facebook group acknowledged the important service for their children but complained of the quality of the food distributed saying there were too many carbohydrates and sugary foods and fruits were dried out.
“Disadvantaged people don’t want to seem ungrateful but… I’m not feeding that to my kids,” one mother wrote.
The Henrico Education Foundation with HCPS also has provided ongoing food supports to students and families that have taken place outside of the daily grab and go meal service. The budget of $436,200 was broken up into assistance with direct food purchases (145,086), $68,700 in grocery cards, $8,216 for school nutrition, $14,198 in food storage/prep/distribution and $200,000 for the family crisis fund to support families in need.
“The foundation provided funding to help with feeding families thanks to the generosity of many businesses, foundations and members of the community,” said Mike Taylor, executive director of the Henrico Education Foundation. “We provided for food purchases or direct assistance to families between late March 2020 and February 3, 2021. This does not including funding for internet/wifi access, PPE or other critical family needs and supplies. The food and grocery cards were distributed by Henrico County, HCPS staff and volunteers.”
A clear need for Hispanic food, baby formula
Smaller nonprofits have responded to specific needs among targeted populations. The organization Latinos en Virginia specifically serves Spanish-speaking victims of violence and this year set up an emergency food pantry at their Empowerment Center, 9513 Hull Street Road, Suite B, in North Chesterfield.
“We established this food pantry during the pandemic because we saw a great need for it in our community,” said Gabriela Telepman communications director with Latinos en Virginia. “The pantry is made up of nonperishable and culturally specific, Hispanic, food items.”
Since July, Latinos en Virginia has been able to feed about 400 Hispanic families in the Greater Richmond Region including Henrico.
Taylor Thornley Keeney runs the Little Hands Virginia nonprofit to provide essentials to young children of up to three-years-old and their families.
“We have been a partner with the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts and the YMCAs to provide items to families having to quarantine with COVID 19 (or exposure) or families seeking assistance from the health department because of loss of job or income,” said Thornley Keeney. “Often those requests include baby formula, milk and other food items.”
Thornley Keeney said that when families are faced with financial shortcomings and they try to cut corners like watering down formula or trying to minimizing diaper changes, it can bring their children harm like malnutrition or seriously painful diaper rash. Anecdotally, she has heard of these cases rising in emergency rooms during the pandemic.
Since March 16, 2020, Little Hands RVA has provided support to more than 125 families in Henrico.
Families often reach out to Thornley Keeney’s organization directly for assistance and to address baby needs. Little Hands also operates a clothes closet out of the Second Baptist Church at 9614 River Road (at Gaskins) in Henrico, which also provides weekly food distribution.
