LV groups team up on food aid
Deliveries critical to residents who have medical conditions
JON Thompson rarely gets a good look at the people he’s helping to feed, and almost never gets to speak with them. “It kind of sucks that the way we have to deliver is, you kind of just drop it, knock on the door, and walk away,” the UNLV pre-med student said of the five to 12 stops he makes per day, three to five days a week. “But that’s the way it has to be because of the coronavirus.”
The people Thompson serves through the Delivering with Dignity food program are at particular risk from COVID-19
because of underlying health risks. As a result, his deliveries of donated meals from popular local restaurants are strictly no-contact.
On this day, however, he got the chance to hear a few of their stories thanks to three recipients who agreed to speak to the Review-journal about the program — from a distance, with masks, without allowing anyone into their homes.
Patrick Bunts, whose age and underlying medical conditions have left him “very afraid to go out into public,” cheerfully offered cold beverages on a hot summer afternoon as he sang the praises of the food from Valencian Gold he has received through the program and shared his thoughts on classic punk rock.
DJ Rindt wasn’t able to speak more than a word or two but insisted on coming to the door to wave to Thompson in thanks.
Aiden Pina, 9, who came to the door dressed in pajamas, said lasagna was his favorite meal so far from Delivering with Dignity. When asked about the last places he remembered visiting before COVID-19 struck, he rattled off a string of hospitals, medical facilities and doctors’ offices where he has been treated for the cancer he is battling.
Each was referred to the program through a different agency. Each has a different story.
“It’s been a great opportunity to actually hear what their life is, their story and the reasons why we’re delivering to them,” Thompson said as he completed his deliveries for the day.
Understanding those stories, and being able to address them, has created a fundamental shift in how Las Vegas tackles a food insecurity problem that has skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
“Our nonprofit organizations have trusting relationships with our most vulnerable people,” said Delivering with Dignity’s Punam Mathur, explaining why her group has teamed with organizations as diverse as Aid for AIDS of Nevada, Susan G. Komen and Teach for America to reach people who would benefit from the program.
“The trust in that relationship matters a lot. And for our most vulnerable person or family, they are managing layer upon layer of complexity, including a deadly virus, and they need to be connected to someone that they trust, who can help them problem-solve all myriad manner of needs.”
That cooperative approach is also what the Three Square food bank credits with shrinking the lines at its drive-thru pantries, which, in April, stretched for miles.
Larry Scott, Three Square’s chief
operating officer, said the “modest decline in demand at the drive-thru sites” over the past several months can be attributed to his organization reconnecting with many independent agency partners that temporarily had suspended operations to protect volunteers from the coronavirus.
“We’d gone from 180 down to 10 agency partners that we were distributing food to, and now we’re back up to approximately a hundred that are providing food,” Scott said.
“It’s really important to go back to that model,” Scott said. “Because in a drive-thru, it’s food, but it’s impersonal. And so the person who wants to know about where they can fill