FEMA, MEMA employees donate 7,000 lbs food to coast hungry - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

By Bobby Allen - email

BILOXI, MS (WLOX) - The shelves at a Biloxi soup kitchen are much fuller, thanks to efforts by federal and state emergency workers.

FEMA and MEMA workers on the coast collected more than 7,000 pounds of food over the summer. Monday morning, they delivered more than half of it to the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen in Biloxi.

The kitchen's Executive Director, Rita Baldwin, was happy to see the delivery.

"I am so, so pleased," Baldwin said. "Thank you so, so much."

Most of the donations were the large, industrial sized cans that the kitchen uses every day.

"All these big cans mean that I don't have to buy the food to feed these people. That's going to save me about $1,000 a month in terms of having to buy those kinds of things."

Baldwin said the soup kitchen is busier than ever, serving 265 meals a day at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"Our cliental has really changed quite a bit. And with the economy the way it is and unemployment the way it is, we are seeing more and more and more people."

"It makes us feel great," said Laura Courtnay with FEMA. "We are just glad, and just really grateful that everyone was so generous and we were able to exceed our goal."

The delivery to Loaves and Fishes represents more than half of the 7,000 pounds donated by FEMA and MEMA personnel. Two other pantries and soup kitchens happily received similar deliveries.

You can also help Loaves and Fishes. Each Friday during the month of September, the soup kitchen will sell sandwiches at lunch for $5. It is called "Feed Yourself, Feed the Hungry."

You can also make a donation anytime, by calling (228) 436-6172, or by stopping by the soup kitchen at 260 Main Street in Biloxi.

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