Southside Missionary Baptist Church, like other churches, provides food for the soul — in a spiritual way.
On Friday, church members and other volunteers provided food for people in need through their service organization known as Project Southside Inc.
From 11 a.m. until noon, people came to Southside MB Church, at 100 Nashville Ferry Road, to pick up boxes of non-perishable food items.
“Project Southside Inc. is a non-profit organization that has been in existence for more than five years,” said Annie Barry, a member of Southside who helped coordinate Friday”s event.
“Not only do we help our church members, we also reach out to the whole community to help where we can. Today, through the efforts of the Mississippi Food Network, we are able to accomplish this feat,” she said.
Rochelle Jones, interim director of Project Southside, said the Mississippi Food Network provided this one-time service because Lowndes County is considered an area underserved when it comes to providing food for families in need.
“According to their statistics, we are at 19 percent in food distribution, and we should be around 33 percent. Even though we have several food pantries in the area, this is an underserved area,” Jones said, noting the network wants to help families in need not just in Lowndes County, but the surrounding area.
“They want to provide more assistance to people in Oktibbeha and Clay County, as well as Noxubee County,” she said.
Jones added there are even more people in need of food in the down economy.
“This is for families who have been laid off as well as underprivileged families. Families can receive vouchers or fill out short applications,” she added.
The church has another program, Backpacks for a Purpose, designed for youth. “We give this out to the young people each Friday. It is backpack that contains a package of macaroni and cheese, a can of chili, two boxes of juice, two boxes of cereal and milk,” she said.
She said parents fill out a permission slip for their kids to bring the backpacks home with them.
Lowndes County District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith was on hand to help distribute food Friday.
“This is in my district, and these people are part of my family. I am a member of Southside. I am here to be a part of this,” he said.
Columbus Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor was also on hand. “Southside is a great church that does great things for this community. They are part of my ward, and I want to help them,” he said.
Allen Baswell was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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