Organizations help Salvation Army amidst dire need for food donations

Food pantries across the Gulf Coast are in dire need of food donations. For Juneteenth, organizations across the Coast dedicated this year’s service project to helping the Salvation Army’s food pantry.

Food pantries always see a greater need in the summer, but for once, pantries can’t keep up.

When the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated saw these empty shelves, they partnered with other organizations to keep the Salvation Army afloat.

“We don’t want to turn anybody away, and we just want to be able to provide families with the food that they need,” said Stacy Gooden-Crandle, Director of Social Services at the Salvation Army. “So, we were definitely anxious and definitely nervous about how we were going to provide hope in the community by giving out food when our food supply was really low.”

All it took were three words from Stacy Gooden-Crandle – “We need food” – and friends from Delta Sigma Theta, a sisterhood dedicated to public service, took action.

“It’s no secret that we love to give and help our community, but our primary focus is to meet the needs of the community, and food insecurity is a real issue in all communities,” said chapter president Searcy Taylor. “Stacy said we have a need, and we met the need.”

The sorority took their efforts to a new level by contacting Bobby Hudson III, Gulfport Juneteenth Celebration executive director. In celebration of the holiday, the community was then able to come together to help each other out.

“Serving and meeting the needs of our community, whether it’s the youth, the homeless, the veterans, whatever we can do, that’s what Juneteenth is symbolic of. It’s not just the festival, right?” Hudson said. “There are so many things that go and today, this day of service initiative reflects that.”

And people surely did come together.

“We have over 152 members, so we know we have well over 300 pieces plus!” said Taylor.

“I just want to thank the Delta’s for their call to action,” Gooden-Crandle said. “I just said simply ‘I need some food’, and they just took it and ran with it, and you see the donation that we received today. We just need more community involvement, more groups to get involved, and do the same thing that the Delta’s did and I just want to say a great big thank you.”

Food donations can be dropped off at a Salvation Army drop-off location, and if you don’t have one near you, reach out to your local food pantry and offer a helping hand.