Due to the Covid-19 social distancing and precautions against spreading the virus, Rebecca’s Café, a community kitchen adjacent to the Statesboro Food Bank where residents in need were offered meals, will be closed indefinitely, said café president Jim Bastorache.
Tuesday, the café handed out bag lunches to those who arrived unaware of the closing, but that was the last day the café would operate until further notice, he said.
Jodi Brannon, director of the Statesboro Food Bank which helps provide food for Rebecca’s Café, said the move goes along with food bank efforts to help stop the spread of the Coronavirus and keep eldely and other more susceptible patrols safe. The café attracts a crowd, but the Center for Disease Control and President Donald Trump have warned people against gathering together, she said.
Bastarache said the board of directors for Rebecca’s Café will continue monitoring the situation and hopes to reopen as soon as possible.
In the meantime, food bank distribution will not be interrupted, but the manner in which food is distributed will be a bit different.
Brannon said older volunteers with the food bank have been asked to stay home for their own safety, since the elderly and people with compromised immune systems are most at risk.
Instead of consumers standing in line to get their week’s worth of food, they are being asked to wait in their cars and pick up orders one at a time. Food bank volunteers will take the food outside in a buggy, which is cleaned with disinfectant upon return to the building.
Right now food supplies are adequate, but in expectation of a higher demand as the social distancing continues, Brannon has placed extra orders from Second Harvest, from where much of the food bank’s supplies are recieved.
Both Rebecca’s Café and Statesboro Food Bank are located on Donnie Simmons Way in the former Julia P. Bryant elementary school building.
Herald reporter Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at 912-489-9414.