Jackson County organizations provide over 500 meals to ‘Head Start’ families

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WLOX) - Due to COVID-19, many people are unemployed and need help getting food. To answer that need, the United Way of Jackson and George counties formed a crisis response team.

They partnered with Feeding the Gulf Coast and other organizations such as Chevron, Ingalls, Mississippi Power, Bacot McCarty and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.

"This was something that we saw a need of, and it’s a fairly new committee. We just started this committee about a month ago, and this is our first project,” said Jackson-George County United Way president, Tee McCovey.

The organizations share the mission to feed over 500 families in a program called “Head Start." In order for families to qualify, they must meet the age and income requirements set by Congress.

“We serve children ages zero to five, we also serve pregnant women which is the zero. We also have a priority placement for children who have special needs,” said Head Start program director.

At the front entrance, families we greeted by Head Start volunteers to ensure qualifications to receive the meals.

Over 60 volunteers from the different organizations filled the Pascagoula Fairgrounds to package all sorts of goods: bread, chicken, canned goods, vegetables, fruit and more. Families remained in their vehicles has volunteers loaded their trunk or backseat up with the prepared foods.

“So this is just one bill that they don’t have to worry about today and the next couple of days because this is a lot of food going into each vehicle. So they won’t have to worry about the expense of food today,” said McCovey.

The Head Start program is currently taking applications for the upcoming fall and applications can be filled out online, here.

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