Pastor Joe Young announced Monday that two food pantries serving Tallahatchie countians have adopted revised schedules and new procedures designed to keep social contact to a minimum due to COVID-19.
Both pantries host a food distribution the third Saturday each month, next on March 21.
Young said the Robert Neal Food Pantry, which serves western Tallahatchie County and northern Sunflower County from Calvary Chapel of Parchman, will open at 9 a.m. Saturday and follow a strict alphabetical schedule.
Persons whose last names begin with A-H will be served from 9-10. Last names of I-P will be served from 10-11 a.m., while Q-Z and anyone who missed their earlier time slot as well as all new sign-ups, will receive their food from 11 a.m. until noon.
Young said the distribution will be conducted in the church parking lot rather than inside the building.
He said Sunflower County sheriff’s deputies will assist with the effort.
“Clients will drive in the one-way entrance off Ward-Riddick Road and will pull up beside the front door,” he noted. “Deputies will place food boxes on a table beside the sign-in book. Clients will leave their cars and sign the notebook, get their box and leave immediately through a one-way exit to avoid any possibility of infection. No client will enter the building for any reason. There will be no parking except in the drive-thru line.”
Faith Food Pantry, at Faith Baptist Church near Charleston, will begin Saturday at 11 a.m., one hour later than usual.
Tallahatchie County deputies will supervise pickup in the parking lot, said Young.
Based on the first letter of clients’ last name, the schedule is as follows:
• A-C pickup will be from 11 a.m. until noon
• D-F pickup will be noon until 1 p.m.
• G-L pickup will be from 1-2 p.m.
• M-P pickup will be from 2-3 p.m.
• Q-T pickup will be from 3-4 p.m.
• U-Z and anyone who missed earlier, as well as all new sign-ups, will pick up from 4-5 p.m.
As at Robert Neal, the manner of food distribution is being altered to minimize human interaction.
“Clients will drive in and pull alongside (not toward) the building and sidewalk. A table will be set up outside the front porch with the food boxes and a sign-in book. A deputy will place boxes on the table and direct traffic,” said Young. “Clients must get out and sign the book. They will then pull around the other side of the parking lot next to the highway and depart. Nobody will congregate or have contact with those not in their car.”
Young said the Mississippi Food Network, from which the local pantries receive their supply of food for distributing to people who meet certain guidelines, signed off on the local changes.
He added that he appreciates Sunflower County Sheriff James Haywood and Tallahatchie County Sheriff Jimmy Fly, and their staffs, for their cooperation in helping “to keep the community safe and to aid the church’s efforts to feed families during this national emergency.”
