‘A common cause.’ Interfaith partnership provides food as coronavirus hits pantries
Even though volunteers were trying to stay six feet apart and a few were wearing face masks Thursday, it only took minutes for about 30 people to unload more than 20,000 pounds of provisions.
Volunteers unloaded the pallets of beef stew, flour, macaroni, spaghetti and other kinds of long-lasting food from a truck supplied by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The food was hustled into Durham’s Beth El Synagogue, from which Walltown Neighborhood Ministries will distribute to those in need.
Katie Crowe, pastor of the Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church, said Durham’s need for food is always acute, but has been made more so by job losses and other stressors caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“This food distribution, this food gift, is going to go a really long way toward keeping those shelves stocked,” Crowe said.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased the food with funds saved every month when members of the church fast. Typically, provisions would be sent to hurricane victims, but without a widespread storm in the Southeast in 2019, there were leftovers that were sent all over the country, said William Calhoun, an LDS spokesman.
The Carolinas received 10 truckloads of food totaling about 460,000 pounds, Calhoun said. In Raleigh, two trucks are being divided among the Raleigh-Cary Jewish Family Services and the Pullen Memorial Baptist Church food pantry. Another truck was headed to Goldsboro, where it would be spread across 19 different pantries.
“It’s great to see it going all the way around,” Calhoun said. “It’s kind of cool to see how the wheels of this were in motion long before the coronavirus hit, and now it’s arriving at a time there’s a real need.”
Food supplied Thursday will be parceled into bags and distributed via Walltown Neighborhood Ministries’ Asbury United Methodist Church pantry, Crowe said. Other items would be delivered door-to-door to elderly residents who are unable to get to a grocery store.
“When we are focusing on a common cause, the distinctions that divide us tend to fade away and the true gift of diversity within rises to the surface where we can really celebrate the way we are varied in our beliefs and practices, but fundamentally united around what matters most,” Crowe said.
After the delivery at Beth El was complete, the truck headed for The River Church, prepared to deliver another 23,000 pounds of food.
This reporting is financially supported by Report for America/GroundTruth Project and The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, a component fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation. The News & Observer maintains full editorial control of the work. To support the future of this reporting, subscribe or donate.
This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 5:41 PM.