Mississippi Boulevard Church gets $10,000 grant
The Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church has been feeding local families for over three decades through its Manna Outreach program.
“We are now currently feeding 900 households per month and are a midsouth food bank pantry location,” Rev. J. Lawrence Turner said. “So we’re on the front lines of meeting the emergency food needs that are there for those who need them.”
This month, 12 Stones Inc. announced a $10,000 grant from the Truist Financial Corporation in support of the Manna Outreach program. The grant is part of a $25 million pledge announced in March for COVID-19 relief.
“Out of this crisis, there were some vulnerable populations who were food insecure and some front-line workers who needed some hope,” Turner said. “We also realized that there were a number of our members who were restaurant owners who had to close down. And we wanted to find a way to meet two needs with one solution.’
So recently, the church has partnered with restaurants, such as A&R Bar-bque and Lenny’s Sub Shop to distribute food within the community. Turner said the church started working with a pair of nearby housing facilities for senior citizens, Poston Housing and Memphis Towers.
“The week of Easter we were able to give 360 meals to the seniors at those two facilities and to provide meals to their staff who would have to handle the distribution. This is something we’ve decided that we want to continue,” Turner said. “Hopefully we can do it as long as these restaurants have to remain closed and until people feel safe to patronize them but we’re wanting to in the coming weeks go beyond just senior housing and work with some of the other groups that we want to give inspiration and hope to.”
A&R Bar-b-que owner Patrick Briggs said that his restaurant has provided over 300 meals for the program. He said that he’s been a lifelong member of the church and that the program has been helping his business.
“It always helps our business anytime someone would call and want us to do a job like that,” Briggs said. “We’re one of the restaurants that are blessed because we never closed down due to this particular incident. And because we didn’t close down we stayed busy.”