Of the many people who sought aid from Beth-el Missionary Baptist Church in Starkville over the last few months, two of them stuck out particularly to Ricky Howard, who helps run the church’s food pantry: a husband and wife, both of whom had been laid off from their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and had three children at home they had to take care of.
“They had never been in a situation where they had to ask for help,” Howard said. “… They were just talking about how hard it actually is.”
They weren’t alone. After the pandemic caused an economic crisis, an unusually large number of people sought help from food banks and other nonprofits this year, including people who had never had to turn to charities before. Howard said the pantry gave out about 300 packages of food this month alone — roughly twice as much as volunteers gave out in December 2019.
“It has been a time where I have never witnessed before, and the expression on people’s faces, you can tell that some of them … are more, I would say, embarrassed, because they have not had to ask, have not had to seek help,” he said. “And once they did, they are so grateful. You can see that expression as well, on people’s faces.”
Thankfully, Beth-el’s food pantry also saw an increase in donations, Howard said.
That hasn’t been the case with all food pantries in the area. The Compassion Pantry, run by Starkville Church of God, received about half the food donations it usually receives, director Max Keene said.
“I just think they haven’t got it to give,” Keene said.
He said the pantry has given out 500 bags of groceries this year, and is now down to less than 100 going into January and February, months which traditionally see a significant dropoff in donations to nonprofit organizations nationwide.
“My concern is what’s going to happen to these people that need food if we cannot supply them with food because we do not have the means, so to speak, to buy the food that we have to have?” he said “… I see a slowdown in the food, with the economy being so bad, and I also see a slowdown in the donations.”
Reminding the public of the need
Starkville-based United Way of North Central Mississippi, which serves 14 nonprofit organizations in Oktibbeha, Webster, Choctaw and Winston counties, received about 10 to 20 percent less in monetary donations than it did around the months leading up the Christmas holidays last year, Executive Director Brittney D. Oliver estimated. However, she thinks that has less to do with the usual donors having less money to give to charity than it does with the pandemic preventing large in-person fundraisers the organization typically relies on to raise money.
“I think while there’s certainly a decrease, there’s also a segment of the community that really does want to help. They just need to know how best to help nonprofits at this time,” Oliver said.
Columbus-based United Way of Lowndes and Noxubee saw something similar with its donations, Executive Director Renee Sanders said. When the pandemic prevented gatherings and saw many businesses shift to a work-from-home model, the organization could not fundraise among businesses and civic clubs during its fall fundraising campaign at the same rate as last year. At the end of the campaign, United Way had made about $400,000 in donations from business employees — roughly $100,000 less than in 2019, she said.
Luckily, the organization made up for that with more grant money and individual donations this year, she said.
“I think one of the reasons giving was up on the individual levels was, one, because (the need in the community) was in the media and then two, because they got the opportunity to claim it on their taxes,” Sanders said.
The trick is to keep the United Way, and the nonprofits they serve, top of mind for the people who aren’t being as hurt from the pandemic and to keep reminding them of the people who are in need, both Oliver and Sanders said.
“Our community is the type of community that if they know, they will help,” Sanders said. “If they don’t know, then they don’t move. … I think as long as we continue to let the community know what the needs are, they will step up.”
That has been the case for Helping Hands, a Columbus nonprofit that serves as both a food pantry and an organization that can give money to families or individuals in need, said Executive Director Nancy Guerry.
Unlike The Compassion Pantry, Helping Hands actually saw an increase in the food and monetary donations it received over the Christmas holidays, with the donations coming more from individuals rather than the traditional churches and civic organizations that have helped facilitate the drives in the past.
“So many people have just all of a sudden realized, ‘We’re all in this together,'” she said “… All of us are facing these problems and so anybody who could has really stepped up and helped us a lot.”
Columbus Community Outreach Coordinator Glenda Buckhalter saw something similar. When the pandemic caused her to have to cancel the organization’s annual Christmas fundraiser and close the community warming shelter which serves homeless people and those who can’t pay for heat in their homes, she put out an impassioned plea for funds to the community through media sources. The resulting funds she received allowed her to place about 14 different families in hotel rooms since the temperature began dropping earlier this month.
Both Oliver and Sanders said they have changed the way they fundraise and work with their nonprofits — Oliver said she’s focused less on big events and more on one-on-one relationships with local partners.
For Oliver, it has also meant United Way shifted to a more stringent focus than previous years on needs like children’s education, homelessness and other problems the pandemic has aggravated.
Moving forward
But even the organizations that did receive the same or more donations than last year are anticipating lower donations in January and February to serve a need that is not going away.
Both Richardson and Guerry said they do not anticipate receiving significant funds over the next two months and have planned accordingly by leaving funds in reserve and, in Richardson’s case, strengthening relationships with other local nonprofits so they can help each other.
Even the food pantry at Beth-el is “at the end of the barrel,” Howard said.
“We have some money in our budget to where we will be able to purchase canned goods and different things,” he said. “It may not be as many, but we will still be able to help some in the community.”
Keene said The Compassion Pantry may have to cut back hours it gives out groceries and rely on donations from The Mississippi Food Network. But even that, he said, can only supplement the pantry, not replace the usual donations.
“Do we try to continue, or do we try to supplement the other type of way?” he said. “That’s the big question that is hanging over our heads right now.”
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