‘ALL ABOUT SERVING PEOPLE’
Annapolis couple use nonprofit to fight homelessness, hunger during pandemic
Willie Bullock grimaces through the pain in his shoulder as he loads pallets of food into a moving truck.
The torn rotator cuff has bothered him for a while, Bullock said, but there’s no time to dwell on the injury when there are hundreds of families to feed across Anne Arundel County amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Each week, Bullock and his wife Delores, the co-founders of the Annapolis-based nonprofit Blessed in Tech Ministries, take food from the Anne Arundel County Food Bank to public libraries and other locations throughout Anne Arundel County to distribute through their Mobile Food Pantry. They estimate the food reaches about a thousand people a month.
Their group has grown from computer technology services to a nonprofit focused on homelessness, hunger and other county issues.
“It’s tough, but I still muscle through because it’s all about serving people,” said Bullock, 51. “We’re living in the worst time I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this, the famine. People are crying out. And so, I will use my last dying breath and strength to serve someone else. That’s who I am.”
The Bullock’s willingness to establish pop-up pantries anywhere in the county make them a valuable asset in the effort to feed families facing food insecurity, said Susan Thomas, executive director of the Anne Arundel County Food Bank.
“They’re willing to actually do a pop-up pantry anywhere in the county that’s needed,” Thomas said, “which is extremely helpful to try to make sure that there are no gaps in the county.”
Earlier this month, the Bullocks and volunteers distributed food to those in need at Broadneck Public Library in Annapolis. This past week, they were at Michael E. Busch Annapolis Library on West Street.
The Bullocks first met in Washington,
D.C. Delores Bullock worked in the federal government developing online learning content and as a help desk tech, which gave her a deep understanding of computer software. Willie Bullock is a self-taught computer hardware expert who stumbled into the field after watching a video on home computer building. The couple moved to the Hillsmere Shore community in 1998.
“We are blessed in tech,” joked Delores Bullock, also 51. “It’s a perfect little jingle.”
Their technological savvy has presented opportunities to make food delivery safer during
“They’d lay out a good plan as a husband and wife group. I think the fact that they’re giving back to the city after they’ve been able to establish themselves is exactly what we need, especially in helping our communities.” — Alderman DaJuan Gay, D-Ward 6