In the final week before Christmas, a few local organizations united to initiate and complete a program to feed hundreds of local people, with both prepared meals and groceries.
Between Thursday, Dec. 17, when Surry Medical Ministries’ board president Nancy Dixon received a phone call that a $10,000 grant was available to provide support to the local community, and Wednesday, Dec. 23, when 346 meals and 227 bags of fresh groceries had been delivered in Surry County, only seven days had passed, a span of time Dixon described as “Biblical.”
The grant was awarded by CurAmericas, an organization which manages initiatives developed by NC Health and Human Services to strengthen outreach to populations at high risk for COVID-19 and improve access to healthcare. CurAmericas selected organizations, including Surry Medical Ministries, in various NC “hot spots” to provide support to populations at the grassroots level and to improve access to community resources and improve health, according to Dixon.
Surry Medical Ministries reached out to Mount Airy City Schools, Surry County Migrant Health Director and The Children’s Center of Northwest North Carolina to develop a plan. All of the entities spoke of the need for food and that a smaller post-Thanksgiving program in which 140 meals provided by Mi Casa had been very successful.
“Now we had more people in quarantine, and more people that we knew were suffering with anxiety and depression,” said Dixon. “I immediately thought this is one small way we can do a small good thing for people struggling right now, whether it is from unstable housing, unstable emotional health, or unstable finances causing food insecurity. Perhaps this could help for one small time right now. It’s not permanent, it won’t fix people’s problems, but it might just lighten their load for the day or a few days. And sometimes, that can be a good gift too.”
Old North State chef Chris Wishart pledged to handle the meals, complete with big Christmas cookies for dessert.
Bruce Shore, manager of Galaxy Foods, special ordered hundreds of items, including baking hens, greens, pintos, bananas, eggs, loaves of multi-grain bread and pasta, enough to fill hundreds of brown paper grocery bags.
Boxes of masks, hand sanitizer and disinfecting cleaning wipes were included with information about COVID symptoms, the COVID vaccine and how to access affordable healthcare if recipients did not already have a doctor or insurance.
Social Worker/Family Liaison for Mount Airy City Schools Jodi Cox, who helped with contacting families and delivering food, said, “Mount Airy City Schools is grate to be able to partner with SMM to provide meals and extra groceries to students and community this holiday season. This partnership speaks directly to my heart as MACS strives to meet and serve our students and families where they are, whatever their needs may be. We hope this event brought a sense of peace and joy.”
“We pulled up to one home and there was no one in sight,” said Dixon. “We got out and began to unload three full bags of groceries and a large bag with an awesome smelling dinner inside. As we approached the house, we could see two little heads peeking out the window and then jumping up and down. ‘Mommy, Mommy, they’re here, they’re here! They brought the food.’
“Delivering food to the places folks are calling home for the holidays, be it a motel room, a camper, a couch at a friend’s house, your trailer or your own private home, and adding a meal someone cooked ‘just for you’ is nice. As one person said, ‘this is nice. That’s all I can say. This is really just so nice. I feel better.’
“There are many many more who absolutely deserve this treat,” added Dixon. “We wish we could do this for everyone in our practice.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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