PANDEMIC MAKES meals for needy scarce as charities have to scale back services.
Charities trim Thanksgiving offerings, but still try to provide
Finding a hot meal on Thanksgiving Day appeared to be more difficult this year for those in need as charities were forced to scale back services because of coronavirus safety concerns.
In the Little Rock area, numerous nonprofits and churches were closed on Thanksgiving, with some handing out boxes of food ahead of the holiday in lieu of serving a warm meal.
Demeterius Hegwood, the founder of MyLife Entrust Foundation, a Little Rock nonprofit, usually distributes food boxes before Thanksgiving.
During a trip to the grocery store on Wednesday to pick up more supplies, Hegwood said he noticed homeless men searching for food in a dumpster.
“It did not sit well with me,” he said. “They told me they have this little camp over here, so I told them I would come out today and feed them.”
Hegwood and his daughter, along with a couple of volunteers, set up a tent in the parking lot of a restaurant next to Little Rock National Cemetery. The night before Thanksgiving, they had prepared turkey, dressing, green beans, yams and macaroni and cheese.
Within 45 minutes of arriving, they handed out 30 plates of food, with some people returning for seconds. One man used the trunk of a car as a makeshift table for his Thanksgiving meal. Many arrived on foot, several on bikes.
“They are saying because of covid, they are not serving [food] the way they used to serve,” Hegwood said. “Then the ones who are serving, they are saying their amounts
are not enough.”
“People are not giving as much as they normally give. When people are trying to survive, they don’t have anything extra to give,” he said. “Covid has changed the world.”
A couple of miles up the road, JPauls Express opened its doors to serve a free Thanksgiving lunch. This was the second year the restaurant has provided a holiday meal.
This year, one major difference was the number of nonprofits that stopped by to pick up anywhere from 20 to 40 plates to take back and distribute throughout the city, Curtis Williams, the owner, said.
Williams said he was reluctant to provide meals on Thanksgiving because of the virus, but was persuadeed to do so by his stepson, Marquise Lovelace.
“We just want to make sure that people are blessed on Thanksgiving,” Williams said. “We know food banks, their supplies are pretty much diminished. We just want to make sure we can give back.”
Williams and Lovelace said they expected to distribute 250 plates over the four-hour time period they opened.
“With covid being so pronounced right now, there are a lot of people who are very unfortunate,” Lovelace said. “There are a lot of people who don’t have food, who don’t have shelter, who don’t have resources, and for us to have those during this pandemic and crisis, it is a blessing all in itself.”
They said they also had heard fewer organizations were providing holiday meals.
“They are few and far between,” Lovelace said.
Curtis and Lovelace said that they received some donations for the meal service but mostly provided it out-ofpocket.
“With the coronavirus, how it is impacting everybody, it is overwhelming,” Williams said. “Even to keep afloat as a restaurant owner, it is real hard on the business. We’ve been trying to stay open so people cannot just feed themselves but their families as well.”
The Little Rock Compassion Center, a homeless shelter, opened its dining area on Thursday and will remain open through Sunday, with volunteers serving traditional Thanksgiving meals for lunch and dinner.
Pastor William Holloway, who runs the Compassion Center, said 5,000 food boxes had been distributed throughout the week. He said he expected to serve up to 600 warm meals on Thanksgiving.
Holloway said there might be more of an underground network of ad-hoc groups serving holiday meals this year, but that it is not as widespread with larger organizations as previous years because of the coronavirus.
The Compassion Center served meals in shifts, allowing about 35 people to eat in one sitting, followed by cleaning of the dining room before another shift could enter.
“We try to follow the health rules,” Holloway said. “But also at the same time, I think it is much nicer to be inside where it is warm.”
“We know we are supposed to keep 6 feet apart from each other,” Holloway said. “But which is the best? Go hungry or take a chance? These people are hungry. They don’t have anywhere to go and eat or sleep, and so they come in here and they want help.”
More people are going to the Compassion Center for meals and other services who are disabled, who are senior citizens or who suffer from a mental illness, the pastor said. Some are from smaller communities “because there is no help in the outlying areas like this,” the pastor said.
“So many people are vulnerable. They are already sick, and this virus is making them even sicker,” Holloway said.
Daryl Johnson waited in line for one of the first meal services on Thanksgiving. The 51-year-old stays at the Compassion Center.
“I am still trying to grasp the concept of the pandemic,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of people who have been impacted by the coronavirus. They lost homes, jobs, families, loved ones. I pray for everyone we will all overcome this.”
A few minutes away, workers at Our House, another shelter, said they are still adapting to life during the pandemic.
For Our House’s Thanksgiving dinner, the number of volunteers from Pleasant Valley Church of Christ, which donated food, could only number about five for the meal preparation.
The shelter has had to reduce the number of beds it can provide to people who have nowhere to live. More people are calling needing services, like bus passes, help finding employment or assistance with bills.
“We are seeing calls from individuals in our community who are seeking services for the first time in response to this pandemic,” Caroline Robbins, Our House development director, said. “That has been eye-opening to us.”
“The need is increasing,” she said. “Now it is our job to see how we can better serve that community.”