Food Banks Face Dwindling Inventories as Need Skyrockets

Jackie Ross sat patiently in her car at the bank, sharing the occasional greeting from a distance. This is the new way Ross and the rest of the world are managing the reality of Covid-19 pandemic. As co-founder of the Delta Network Food Bank, she is a witness to the financial turmoil unleashed on families struggling to survive in a global economy upended by the crisis.

“We have almost exhausted inventory we expected to last through June,” Ross stated.

Ross and her team of volunteers which include elected officials, friends, and kindred spirits sprang into action shortly after the first coronavirus cases were announced in the Pine Bluff, Arkansas area, distributing 43,000 pounds of chicken.

“People came from far and near to the point it blocked traffic,” Ross said. “Since that time, we’ve had a second distribution for 40,000 pounds of chicken. And, we scheduled the people to come and gave them a designated time for pickup.”

Ross and her husband, Reverend Louis Ross, started the Delta Regions Community Services Outreach Network in 2005. The nonprofit began as an outgrowth from the work the Rosses were during at the churches Rev. Ross had pastored.

“We have always, for a longtime, had a passion for helping those who are in need,” Ross stated.

The organization’s food bank, Delta Network Food Bank, supplies food pantries in the Arkansas Delta. With businesses on lockdown throughout the country and millions of Americans including Arkansans unemployed, Ross described the need for food as “tremendous.”

Pantries that would “normally come monthly are now coming twice a month.” Donations to keep the food bank stocked are being sought with Ross applying for more grants. Senior citizens and schoolchildren are also vulnerable. The weekend backpack program, which supplied food for students to eat during the weekend before the pandemic, has continued for some areas despite widespread school closings. It, too, however, is no longer guaranteed.

Food Insecurity is a National Issue

For food bank operators like Jackie Ross, the demand for food assistance is a clear and glaring reflection of the devastating financial toll wrought by Covid-19. Food banks are reporting a “40% increase in demand, on average,” Katie Fitzgerald, chief operating officer at Feeding America, told CNN. Feeding America is a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. Fitzgerald said major donors like Walmart and grocery store chains have seen an increase in customer demand and panic buying which slow that channel of support for food banks.

Many volunteers for food banks are also older Americans concerned about exposure to the coronavirus. Combine low inventory with dramatically increased demand and an understandably cautious volunteer network, America’s families are faced with food insecurity at a time when healthy food is one of the first lines of defense against coronavirus infection.

Neighbor Helping Neighbor

In Little Rock, volunteers from the Links, Incorporated, an African American women’s organization, donned masks to deliver a $5-thousand donation to the Arkansas Food Bank. They had planned to volunteer but because of safety concerns, they were informed that “they were not allowing volunteers onto the premises.”

Chapter president, Lana Nayles, said members of the organization felt compelled to help.

“The Little Rock chapter wanted to find a way to reach out and help our citizens during this global pandemic,” said Lana Nayles, chapter president. “Upon seeing the need through the area and being made aware that for every dollar we could purchase five meals, our donation of $5-thousand provided 25,000 meals.”

Volunteers at the food pantry in Bearden, Arkansas packed grocery bags with food and placed them in shopping carts. Each family loaded the bags which included canned goods, meat, and fresh fruit from the cart into their vehicle as volunteers logged the names from a distance.

“It was a joy to be able to serve the community during these trying times, said volunteer Pearlie Newton.

Ross outlined a similar approach for distribution.

“We made little cards, and we passed the card into the individual’s vehicle, gave them a pen which they were to keep,” she said. “And, we had boxes for them to drop the cards in…rolled the dolly close enough to where they could get it and place it in their car.”

Dire economic forecasts create a concern for more donations and support in the coming months. Ross is looking for both.

“Certainly, Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington was supportive,” Ross stated and expressed appreciation for Washington’s support, other elected officials, and assistance from New Life Centers. “Whoever would come to volunteer. We need an army. We have no paid individuals on the payrolls.”

The drive-through distribution at Delta Network’s food pantry for 400 families continued, and Ross expects to see more. For most, the task of feeding hundreds of families weekly would be daunting. But, for Jackie Ross and her husband, helping others is their calling and they’re more determined than ever to answer.

If you would like to contribute to Delta Network Incorporated, please mail donations to P.O. Box 20278, White Hall, Arkansas 71612. All donations are tax-deductible.