Food Distribution Organizations Making Adjustments During COVID-19 Pandemic
Caption: Growing Home is reassessing its ability to sell its produce through food stands. Photo Courtesy of Growing Home on Facebook
Birdia Jenkins estimates that between 80 to 100 people relied on the food bank run out of Holy Sanctuary Community Church for their weekly supply of groceries. However, as the state-mandated closures of gathering places continue in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, Holy Sanctuary’s doors remain shut, as does the food bank.
Jenkins, the co-coordinator of Holy Sanctuary’s food bank, highlights the difficult situation this presents to those in West Side communities who rely on them for fresh groceries.
“They can't go nowhere because everything is shut down, you have to go to the store and do the best you can to buy what you can,” Jenkins says. “Whatever families have In their freezer, on their shelves, you have to come together and share.”
As food banks around the city limit their services, other charitable food distribution operations have found their resources similarly disrupted. Quentin Love is the founder of the Love Foundation, a non-profit that focuses on providing resources to underserved communities.
One such initiative is a soup kitchen that runs out of Turkey Chop Gourmet Grill located at 3506 W. Chicago Ave. on Mondays from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. In accordance with the state mandates, the soup kitchen has been allowed to operate at its normal hours, though food is being packaged in takeaway containers and no one is allowed to stay in the restaurant.
However, Love points out that the volunteer-run soup kitchen has been short-staffed as more and more people opt to stay at home, leading to Love running the kitchen himself. Love acknowledges the pressure this places on him, even as he estimates the soup kitchen’s attendance has dropped from 500 to around 100 people.
“I've made a commitment to be there for my people and therefore, I show [up in] rain, sleet and snow,” Love says. “We can only do our part in our respective communities to just help inspire hope and put a smile on a random stranger's face. That's pretty much all you can do.”
Growing Home, a non-profit farm based in Englewood, had its first harvest scheduled for the first week of April. The produce harvested would have been tended to by members of Growing Home’s production assistant program, which gives those with employment barriers experience in the urban farming and food industries.
However, Danielle Perry, Growing Home’s executive director, says these plans must be altered to ensure the well-being of its employees and customers during the pandemic, especially as its produce will likely no longer be sold in farmers markets around the city.
“I'm thinking with our first harvest, we’re just trying to feed as many of our [current and former program assistants] as we can, because many of them are the people who worked in restaurants and have lost their jobs,” Perry says.
While Growing Home is still in the planning stages of its next harvest, Perry says the organization will shift its focus to its CSA (community supported agriculture) program that will come in the form of produce boxes delivered directly to peoples’ doors. She says that Growing Home is also planning to introduce a model that will allow donors to purchase a CSA for a family in Englewood.
Although the outbreak of COVID-19 presents an uncertain future for organizations distributing food to those in need, Jenkins emphasizes the importance of community in this time.
“This is bringing everybody together, making you notice that there is a need to care for and check on your neighbor,” Jenkins says. “We never know when days like this will be coming again.”