MUST continues expansive food dispersal despite national crisis

Marietta, GA, March 26, 2020 --- In a time when the demand for food is at a heightened level, MUST Ministries is working around the clock to try to meet the needs of those hungry in Cobb and Cherokee.

MUST has been coordinating food distribution both in partnership with other organizations and independently. The number served in the last 4 workdays has totaled an amazing 3,750 families. To put it into perspective, MUST typically distributes food to 1,500 families a month.

Additionally, MUST supplied volunteers at each of Cobb County School District’s eight schools where meals for the week were prepared by school food and nutrition teams and taken to curbside delivery by 2-5 MUST volunteers. That effort produced 24,480 meals distributed, including 10,880 breakfasts and 13,600 lunches.

In just four days, MUST distributed to families at 33 Neighborhood Pantry locations in schools and at Mt. Bethel UMC in East Cobb. In addition, the main three MUST Client Services Pantries have been open and seeing record numbers.

To manage these distributions in light of CDC health recommendations, all food was distributed curbside. “A client could just pull up, pop the trunk or unlock the back car door and we slid the box in,” said Dr. Ike Reighard, Pres. and CEO of MUST. “We want to be as careful as we can while making sure people have enough to eat.”

He explained that MUST had already distributed the MARCH allotment of food and toiletries prior to the COVID-19 virus concerns, so the additional curbside boxes added two weeks of groceries to Neighborhood Pantry clients while also serving non-clients in need.

Neighborhood Pantry clients are selected by the school counselors and social workers to reach the highest risk children and their families. MUST is now in 29 Cobb County schools, 3 Marietta City Schools, 3 Cherokee County schools and Kennesaw State University with Neighborhood Pantry food and toiletries. Clients come 12 months a year to supplement their food stamps.

In addition, MUST delivers food to low-income housing for senior citizens in Cobb and Cherokee as well as operates 3 Client Services Pantries. “This population has become of great concern,” said Reighard. “Reports are showing millions of older Americans are at risk for hunger and we all have to work together to prevent their food insecurity.”

Overall, distributing food has always had challenges, he said, but now more than ever.
“It’s definitely been a difficult time to distribute food when grocery store shelves are empty, volunteers are sheltering at home and many of our employees are working remotely for various reasons, but MUST has a 49-year reputation for serving and we intend to do so as long as we’re allowed.”

He said MUST has had to redefine their model and become innovative in social distancing, but the biggest need remains collecting the food. “We are so grateful to our generous community for directly shipping food purchased online, hosting neighborhood, church and business food drives and literally taking food from their own shelves to sharing it. The list of food needed is on the MUST website: mustministries.org

MUST leadership is working to not only meet the current need, but also plan for the immediate future. Next steps are being formulated now with a host of partners.

“Together, we’ll get through this period of time because our community is generous and resilient. In the meantime, we’re continuing to feed people while operating our shelter and housing programs,” Reighard stated. Thousands of people depend upon us and we take that mission seriously. Our delivery model has changed, but our commitment hasn’t.”