Christmas is the season of giving. Gifts are exchanged between friends and relatives.
Donations abound for numerous charities, local and beyond.
However, as the holiday season comes and goes, so does the spirit of giving. That’s a reality food pantries in the Golden Triangle deal with for the rest of the year.
“In January, when that rolls around, everything basically comes to a halt,” said Brandi Herrington, executive director for Starkville Strong. “It feels like when the Christmas spirit is over, everybody sets back to default. I think it’s important to remind people that, those who were hungry at Christmas, they’re going to be hungry after the new year too. It doesn’t end with filling your bellies at Christmas.”
Starkville Strong is a nonprofit that seeks to combat many areas of poverty in the city, one of which is food insecurity.
The group has seven food pantries located throughout the city that it tries to keep stocked. It also offers food and hygiene vouchers for clients who complete steps to improve their situations.
But for an organization that is 85-percent dependent on community donations, when those stop, the effects are far-reaching.
“We end up having to dip into our monetary funds to purchase food and then that means that some or our other programs can’t progress or stay consistent like we’d like them to,” Herrington said.
Helping Hands of Columbus finds itself in a similar situation with its food pantry.
The summer months of 2022 particularly proved to be dangerous for the group due to lean donations.
“It was a surprise, this last year, that we got so low,” said Jennifer Garrard, executive director. “And it sort of worried me, but I knew donations would come in closer to the holidays. Luckily we had a few grants that I had received for food. But it had gotten to where I was shopping every single weekend to keep the pantry filled enough for the food distribution the week ahead.”
An increase in demand during the year further strained the supplies. In the most recent numbers, from August, the group had served food to 659 families. She added that the pantry never ran out of food, but it had to decrease the amount that each recipient received.
One pantry is not in as dire straits as the others, however.
The Project Homestead Food Pantry of Clay County is flourishing thanks in a large part to community donations.
“We couldn’t do what we do without the people in West Point,” said Jane Scott, president for the group. “They are amazing, absolutely amazing. … West Point, hands down, is the most giving community I’ve ever seen. (They show) compassion and they just want to help people. And they do. They make a big difference. We sure couldn’t do it without them.”
However, the pantry also supplements the food donated by the community with food from programs such as the Mississippi Food Network and Extra Table.
These organizations work with stores such as Walmart and Dollar General to donate food to local pantries.
This helps the group serve more people. In November, the group gave food bags to 729 individuals, or 356 households.
“Our number of families varies,” Scott said. “Of course anybody that comes in here and says they’re hungry, we give them food. That’s the bottom line. But we do want everybody to sign up.”
Combating the problem
Each organization has its own way of dealing with the lack of donations.
Helping Hands is taking a proactive approach though. Garrard said she will be posting a monthly “wishlist” on the group’s social media to keep the need fresh in people’s minds. In addition to this, however, she also plans to look for money to keep the operation going.
“There are new grants out there to apply for, specifically for food,” she said. “I’m going to jump on those as soon as the new year starts.”
Starkville Strong, on the other hand, is looking to the community to hold the main pantries up while it addresses the “deeper cause” of the problem.
“Food insecurity, if you’re struggling to put food on the table, that’s just the top layer of your issues,” Herrington said. “The good thing about Starkville Strong is we are working to peel back the layers and address all of those other things. What we ask from the community is that you just help us fight that top layer of food insecurity, which is really easy for the community to do. That way we can continue working with people to help them find stability in other areas of their life, beyond food.”
Anyone wanting to help or needing assistance is encouraged to reach out to the organizations to inquire about doing so.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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