Meals getting to hungry residents in Northwest Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE -- People who need a meal can still get one from churches and organizations, but in most instances, it'll have to be to-go.

Central United Methodist Church on Dickson Street moved its usual Tuesday and Thursday afternoon meal programs to its Genesis Church campus on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It also added Friday afternoon meals, in addition to the meals already being served at Genesis on Saturday.

Central had a drastic drop in the number of meal attendees after bus services in the city limited passengers to no more than nine at a time, Pastor Jody Farrell said. The church decided to move the food closer to the population it serves.

Plus, the Genesis campus generally has younger volunteers than at Central, and older populations are more likely to experience complications from covid-19, he said.

Providing to-go lunches, hot and cold, enables the church to continue feeding people while preventing the spread of the disease, Farrell said. Volunteers are making 100-120 meals each day the church is open, with about 70-80 people coming in, he said. Sometimes people take more than one or take lunches to others.

Keeping people distanced is a challenge, Farrell said. Those waiting in line for a meal need to stay 6 feet apart, but it's only natural for people to want to congregate and visit, he said.

Genesis usually is open Monday through Thursday, and people can flow into the worship hall to get to the pantry or showers or receive help from a volunteer. The doors are now closed to everyone but essential volunteers and staff, and providing those other services has become a challenge, Farrell said.

"Meeting needs is important, but it's not just simply meeting the needs. It's caring for the whole person," he said. "We've found a lot of people who are in manifestations of poverty are isolated in many ways already."

Louis William Bentley, 63, picked up a hot meal at Genesis on Thursday. He moved to Northwest Arkansas from Dallas-Fort Worth in 2013 and is staying at the Salvation Army.

Bentley said he usually would make about $30 a day asking for cash on street corners. His goal was always to make enough to go to Walmart or some place cheap and buy food.

People haven't been as willing lately to roll down their windows, he said. He'll sometimes get a candy bar or granola bar, but otherwise, he'll walk to places such as Genesis for a meal during the day.

"I'm not working the corners like I used to because I know everybody's scared, trying to stay distanced," Bentley said. "It just is what it is."

Keeping up

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines instruct service providers to limit visitors to a facility and minimize face-to-face interactions with clients, but the guidelines don't list specifics. The Arkansas Department of Health prohibited sit-down service at restaurants and bars but didn't address community meal providers.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church on East Avenue offers afternoon meals Monday and Wednesday. It also started offering to-go lunches and closed its building to visitors. The number of people coming to get a meal has dropped, said Kaitlyn Rush, parish chef.

The church used to make 100-150 meals each day. People could sit down for a hot meal and take a sack lunch to go. Now, volunteers and staff are making about 90 sack lunches each day, Rush said.

The church also has been giving meals to residents of Hillcrest Towers, the public housing complex in the city's downtown for older and disabled residents. Many of those residents are in quarantine, Rush said, so volunteers take over food.

St. Paul's is working on some other ways to help people, such as putting together care packages. The Little Free Pantry next to the church always needs items, she said.

The need is further amplified because 7 Hills closed the doors at its day center on South School Avenue. The center is providing essential services such as clothing, food and mail 1-3 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday. About 90 bags of nonperishable food items get distributed on those days, said Jo Kaye Bandy, 7 Hills board member.

Salvation Army has allowed people staying at its shelters in Fayetteville and Bentonville to sit in the dining area for daily dinner but with spaces between and only a few people at a time, said Capt. Josh Robinett, area commander. People not staying on-site can take hot meals to go. The organization also distributes boxes of groceries.

The number of meals served has stayed about the same, Robinett said. Last week, Salvation Army served about 2,500 meals at both locations. The number of grocery boxes has gone up, he said. More than 580 boxes were given out at Salvation Army locations in the four major cities of Northwest Arkansas. That's about twice as many as usual, he said.

He suspects many of the grocery boxes are going to people who were laid off because of the pandemic.

Keeping distance between people in the shelters has been a logistical challenge, Robinett said. Federal guidelines recommend putting 6 feet of distance between beds, with a sheet or shower curtain separating them. That means fewer beds can fit, but this time of year, there are fewer beds anyway because fewer people seek shelter during nicer weather, he said. About 30 people have been staying at the overflow shelter in Fayetteville this week, compared to about 50 usually.

"We're committed to serving through this crisis," Robinett said. "As needs change, we'll adapt with that."

Adapting

Samaritan Community Center in Rogers and Springdale has found ways to continue to serve. Only staff and volunteers are allowed inside, but the center is putting hot meals and groceries in takeout containers for people to pick up curbside or in their cars, Executive Director Debbie Rambo said. Activity has spiked, she said.

About 500 meals are going out of the center's locations each day, Rambo said, which is two to three times more than usual. Distribution for grocery packs from the pantry have doubled from about 35 to 70 each day.

The Rogers center has been giving out meals, groceries and snacks for children from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Springdale's center is doing the same on Tuesday and Thursday.

Adjusting hours and staff levels has served as a lesson in streamlining operations to best serve needs, Rambo said.

"For us, this is going to be an opportunity for us to strengthen as an organization," she said. "We're having to think quickly, differently and extremely efficiently."

Jerry Rommel, 68, said he feels fortunate to live in Arkansas, where the toll from the pandemic has been less dire than in other states. Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Thursday 12 deaths in the state. New York, by comparison, has had more than 2,300.

Finding meals has been pretty easy for Rommel, he said. He has a car and is living in a trailer at Shenandoah Mobile Home Park in south Fayetteville. A debilitating heart attack and subsequent stroke a couple of years ago made it extremely difficult for Rommel to walk. He has a routine to stop at Genesis, M&N Augustine Foundation and Trinity United Methodist Church, depending on the day.

Rommel misses sitting down and talking with people, as opposed to taking meals on the go, he said.

NW News on 04/03/2020