One week after Hurricane Matthew left thousands of Bulloch County residents without power, water or food, the community pulled together with tremendous compassion to help. Volunteers will distribute 40,000 pounds of food to those in need Saturday.
“The food will be distributed from First United Methodist Church at 101 South Main Street in Statesboro beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, said DeWayne Grice, one of the organizers of “Operation Coastal Freedom,” a group of partnering people and agencies. For those in other areas of the county, additional food distribution points will be at Portal City Hall; CORE Credit Union in Brooklet; and at the Stilson Fire Department.
“Lunch will also be served on site …at the FUMC Soup Kitchen beginning at noon to 1 p.m.” he said. Hot meals will be available in Portal, Stilson and Brooklet as well, and at Rebecca’s Café at the Statesboro Food Bank.
Even after most people had power restored by Thursday, the effects of the raging storm took toll. Freezers and refrigerators could not preserve stored foods, and many found themselves with nothing to eat, he said.
Operation Coastal Freedom formed in response to pleas from people who found themselves with piles of ruined food and nothing to eat. Television newscaster Dal Cannady organized an impromptu delivery of food to Pojo’s gas station on Interstate 16 and Hwy. 310 South Saturday, where people stranded on the backed-up interstate depleted the store’s supplies and needed food, Grice said.
Fostering Bulloch became involved, as well as individuals and local businesses. Southern Cakes Bakery prepared hundreds of spaghetti meals; churches and others reached out and distributed sandwiches and water, and the efforts grew as the need continued.
Volunteers needed
The food will be here, but volunteers are needed to unpack it, bag it and hand it out, Grice said.
“We need 20 or so volunteers to help unload the pallets, set up tables and organize the drop,” he said. Anyone experienced in such events is asked to arrive at First United Methodist Church at 8 a.m. to help. Some volunteers will be sent to the other drop locations.
From 9-10 a.m. Saturday, 20 to 30 volunteers will be needed to bag food and prepare for distribution. The food distribution begins at 11 a.m., and five traveling teams will deliver to the other sites, where 10 or more volunteers are needed at each site, he said.
Normal requisites including financial qualification for the food distribution are waived due to the emergency status, Grice said. All a person in need is required to give are name, address and phone number.
How it came about
Since people were in dire straits, with no food and may have to wait until the next payday to restock, organizers knew they had to act fast.
Fostering Bulloch, Operation Coastal Freedom, Statesboro food Bank and others joined Pastor John Long with Christian Social Ministries, who partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to secure the food from Second Harvest, he said.
When transport of the food was unavailable at the time through Second Harvest, three tractor trailer rigs were offered by Coastal Meats and Crider Poultry, Grice said. Dana McLendon with Coastal Countertops provided a forklift to load and unload the trailers.
Ready-to-eat food will be supplied by Fostering Bulloch and Believers Church, Rebecca’s Café and the First United Methodist Church soup kitchen.
Sponsors for the 40,000 pound food drop include the Statesboro Kiwanis Club, Statesboro Cardiology, Alex Grovenstein, Parker Engineering (Wesley Parker), the Southeast Bulloch High School Cross Country track team and Angie Clifton.
are the financial sponsors of this food drop.
Also, Crider Foods (Ruthie Crider)and Coastal Meats, Second Harvest Food Bank (Savannah and USDA ), Dana McLendon, Jimmy Cason with FUMC; Ricky Allen and Susan Scarborough Allen (Statesboro First Baptist Church); Christian Social Ministry, Fostering Bulloch, Statesboro Food Bank, Kimberly Forstrom, Jim Mock, John Long, Hugh Yaughn.
Also,Roy and Deborah Thompson ( Statesboro Floor Covering), Neal Ardman (owner of the Statesboro radio stations) Dr. Suketu Patel (East Georgia Center for Oral & Facial Surgery) and several others, he said.
“Lori and I are so overwhelmed,”Grice said, referring to his wife. “We get a lot of credit but we are just organizing this.”
The blooming efforts have, so far, fed over 7,000 in Bulloch, Chatham, Evans, and Effingham counties, he said. “Chris Yaughn (with Fostering Bulloch) is a bomb. He has been really putting it out there. This is a community-wide effort.”
Food donations can be made to the Statesboro Food Bank on Stockyard Road in the old Julia P. Bryant elementary school building.
Donations of money may be made at any Farmers and Merchant’s Bank location, with checks made payable to United Way of Southeast Georgia. A Gofundme account is also available for donations: www.gofundme.com/bullochcounty.
Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912)489-9414.