Under the weight of COVID-19 and all its repercussions, Jefferson County needed nearly twice as much food from the St. Louis Area Foodbank in March and April.
“The need is great, and it’s increasing every day,” said Meredith Knopp, president and chief executive officer of the foodbank. “It’s very much a fact that hunger is a problem.”
The foodbank supplies to food pantries, soup kitchens and other assistance agencies in the region, including 24 in Jefferson County.
“Last year, in March and April, the Foodbank delivered 627,000 pounds of food to Jefferson County. This year, during the same time period, it was 1.1 million. That shows you in a very small window – almost 500,000 more pounds of food were needed,” Knopp said. “And it’s not just in Jefferson County. We’re seeing that same thing all over.”
Mobile drives
Rachael Bersdale, Comtrea’s chief behavioral health officer, said the agency held three mobile drives in April to help combat the problem, two in Festus and one in Arnold, in conjunction with the First Baptist Church of Arnold.
During Comtrea’s three drives, 697 households were helped, taking in 2,719 people, including 1,102 children, Bersdale said
She said some people may believe that at least some of those who are seeking help during the pandemic are working the system, but that’s not what she believes.
“I haven’t seen greedy people at all,” she said. “What I’ve seen is the faces of people who are grateful, and some of those faces are really sad. They’re afraid of not being able to feed their families for the first time in their lives.”
Herculaneum United Methodist Church has hosted a mobile food market distribution with the Foodbank every two weeks since April 3, said Krystle Miller, the church’s outreach and food coordinator.
She, too, said those who have come for help need it.
“What I saw (during the first event), and what I’ve seen since, is people who are extremely grateful we’ve been there. Some people come through the line crying. Some are smiling. Some are just happy that they’ve had a chance to socially interact with someone other than their families,” she said.
People in need have come from throughout the St. Louis region.
The Rev. Jimmy Sansom said during that initial drive, the church placed a minimal order with the foodbank, a half-truck of food.
“But then when I started to see news reports from St. Louis of a mile-long backup of cars, I thought we might need a full truckload, and that’s what we’ve had ever since.”
“It’s a good thing, too,” Miller said. “That first day (April 3) we served 145 families.”
The church holds distributions every other Friday morning, usually starting at 10 a.m., although vehicles start lining up about 8 a.m., Sansom said.
“We’re trying to be a servant to our county. One of the commandments of Jesus was to help others and feed the hungry. We’re trying to live up to that.”
Miller said the church will hold the drives indefinitely and plans to ultimately establish a food pantry.
“We started with 10 volunteers, and sometimes we have as many as 20,” she said. “They’re of all ages – kids in third grade through retirees. Some are members of the church, some are my friends and family and now we’re starting to get volunteers of people who have accepted food from us in the past.”
Victory Church in Pevely also has held several foodbank mobile drives, and Gail Jones, director of food services for the Fox C-6 School District, said her staff is planning one in late June.
Helping feed children
Herculaneum UMC also is at the center of an initiative to provide school children free meals during the summer.
Tangela Jones, director of Child Core Foundation, said the nonprofit program just started its fifth year.
“We pick up feeding school children when school lets out for the summer,” she said.
It’s not affiliated with the church in Herculaneum, but uses its kitchen as its home base throughout the summer.
“It’s a separate organization, but its mission is at the heart of our church, and the church is at the heart of it,” Miller said.
Jones said in previous summers, the group held communal meals featuring crafts and other activities, but with social distancing still being recommended, the model has changed.
This summer, Jones said, “grab and go” locations have been set up in
De Soto (at the Parkview and Sycamore Hills apartments), in Pevely (Landmark Manor and Pevely Point apartments), in Crystal City (Riverbend Apartments), Festus (Oak Knoll and Menkus Place) and out of the church in Herculaneum, with additional sites coming soon, including New Hope United Methodist Church in Arnold, which also is lending its kitchen.
“Every other day, kids get two meals and two snacks,” Jones said. Children 18 and under and special-needs individuals up to the age of 21 are eligible.
While it’s still early in the summer, Jones said it’s already evident the need is there.
“Last year, we provided close to 8,900 meals over the summer and this year, our numbers are up dramatically.”
She said the program is open to all children.
“There are no rules, no criteria to have to meet, and you don’t have to live in a certain area. And it’s free,” she said.
For more information, go to the website thechildcore.org or call 636-209-2105.
“But you don’t have to call first,” she said. “You can just show up. We’re practicing social distancing at our distribution sites, and we’re asking parents to drive up, but the kids can walk up.”
Donations of food, money and volunteer time are always appreciated, she said.
Donation opportunities also are available through the website.
Schools did their part
Even though the county’s 11 school districts haven’t had in-person instruction since mid-March, that doesn’t mean students have gone without food.
Fox C-6, like school districts around the county, responded to the sudden change when school buildings closed and started providing meals to those who needed them, said Gail Jones, director of nutrition services at Fox.
Schools prepared lunches and distributed them curbside, with parents coming to school to pick up meals for their children.
Jones said the Fox district has two distribution sites, Fox and Seckman high schools, for all students in its 17 schools.
“They had the largest prep kitchens, and that would allow the staff of five employees at one time space to spread out to keep social distancing. We put the health and safety of our employees, of our students and families and the community first,” Jones said.
She said providing food during the pandemic was important.
“Some parents would tell us they lost their jobs, and this was helping them to feed their children,” she said. “Others would say that because of the food we were giving out, they wouldn’t have to go out to the grocery stores as much and risk catching the virus. We heard over and over expressions of gratitude.”
Jones said during the first two weeks after traditional classes were called off, her staff served about 300 meals a day. After a week off for spring break, food distribution resumed, but on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule.
“We jumped up to 400 served a day, meaning we were giving out 800 breakfasts and 800 lunches every Monday and Wednesday and 400 of each on Friday,” she said.
While the district asked parents to sign up, Jones said no one was turned away.
For summer, Jones said, the district will continue the program through at least the end of June.
“A decision has not been made to continue it into July,” she said.
Since the end of school, the district has been handing out an average of 200 meals a day, Jones said.
Free meals for children
at Peace Pantry
The Peace Pantry in Cedar Hill is providing a drive-through food pickup for children through the Operation Food Search summer breakfast and lunch program.
Pickups will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through the summer at the pantry, 8100 S. Industrial Drive.
Children age 18 and under will be given two shelf-stable breakfasts and two lunches for free while supplies last.
The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For information, call 636-285-0934 or go to operationfoodsearch.org or peacepantry.org.
Backpacks continue
Vicki Tamboli, organizer of the Brenden’s Friday Backpacks program that provides weekend meals for school children in 14 school districts in Jefferson and St. Francois counties, said business was brisk over the spring when schools were closed because of the pandemic.
“We worked with the school districts that were providing meals to their students and gave out backpacks (of food for over the weekend) at their last distribution day of the week,” Tamboli said.
She said normally, backpacks are given out only to students identified as being in need, but that was suspended during the pandemic.
“We gave out backpacks to anyone who came to pick up meals from the school,” Tamboli said.
“They say that hunger doesn’t take a holiday,” Tamboli said. “It certainly doesn’t take a COVID break, either.”
Brenden’s Friday Backpacks usually doesn’t operate during the summer, and this year is no exception, but Tamboli said the need for donations is more acute now than ever.
“We normally have drives in April or May and then again in June or August, and we won’t be able to have those this year. That’s when we stock up for the next school year. We really need help for next school year.”
Donations of food or money may be made through the organization’s website, brendensfridaybackpacks.org, or through its Facebook page.