Long lines at Samaritan Ministry Food Pantry free food giveaway in St. Martin

It’s not every day a food pantry is looking to help clear out its shelves, but that was the case at a Jackson County food pantry today.

“I hadn’t expected this. I got here this morning and the parking lot was full.”

The line was long and the turnout more than anyone anticipated at Monday’s free food giveaway, especially after COVID concerns had kept many of the Samaritan Ministry Food Pantry’s regular clientele away recently. Samaritan Ministry Food Pantry Director Bonnie Furniss said, “We were getting fewer people because of that, so we were getting excess food, so we decided to have a big bang today.”

“Have the people bear with us today because it’s going to be a while trying to catch up with all these people.”

While there was a bit of a wait, no one left empty-handed as this Jackson County food pantry relaxed its usual restrictions on this one day, expanding its outreach and the menu for those who turned out. Volunteer Rita Shields said,”Vegetables, spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, cereal, meat, bread, dessert.”

Before Monday’s food drive, the Lord is my Help in Ocean Springs received quite a few donations from here. Meanwhile, the mission continues here year-round. “Within my regular clientele that I have, people are still losing jobs, and some of them are staying away because of the coronavirus.”

But not on this day as more than one hundred people masked up and loaded up with some extra food thanks to some good Samaritans and the outreach efforts of this Jackson County food pantry.