By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
As you sit down to enjoy that Thanksgiving meal today, consider this: Hundreds of area people won’t go hungry this year, thanks to area food banks and kitchens.
Yet, the need for food aid is large and growing, organizers noted.
Open since 1986, Washington’s Zion Shelter and Kitchen serves lunch from 11 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, said Robert Harris, shelter director.
“The reason for such a short lunch period is that most of the people who come in here don’t have jobs anyway, so they just come here,” Harris said.
Located in the basement of Metropolitan AME Zion Church on West Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, the shelter dishes up around 70 to 75 meals per day, counting seconds, he related.
And Zion sees variations in its clientele, Harris said.
“We do have a variety,” he said. “The same people don’t come every day.”
The kitchen is well-stocked at present, Harris indicated.
“The community so far has been very generous to us,” he said. “We have got a lot of supplies in for the holidays.”
After the holidays, Zion will need donations of napkins, plastic utensils, foam plates and related paper items, he said.
“We don’t have too much of a shortage of food right now,” Harris stated.
Located at 932 W. Third St., Washington, Eagle’s Wings celebrated its 20th year of operation in October, said Debbie Adams, executive director.
Clients of Eagle’s Wings may pick up food from 9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. and from 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Adams said. The operation is closed on the fifth Tuesday of a month.
Asked if the organization has seen an increase in the numbers of people it serves, Adams replied, “Very significant in the people that we’ve never seen before. It’s a huge increase of first-timers.”
Asked what Eagle’s Wings needs, Adams responded by calling for meats, which the nonprofit can store in its walk-in freezers.
“We’re struggling to meet the needs of just enough meat right now,” she said. “We have plenty of storage for meats. Frozen is wonderful.”
The Washington-based Salvation Army corps, at 112 E. Seventh St., has a food pantry that’s open Mondays through Fridays, said Marian Tabak, director of social work.
“Anyone can walk in and get some food,” Tabak said. “Of course, they have to fill out an application, but most people are eligible.”
Workers hand out one or two bags of food, based on the size of the family in need, she related.
Though the local corps serves six counties, three-quarters of the food bank’s clients are from Beaufort County, she said.
“On a daily basis, we get many phone calls,” Tabak remarked, adding that the Salvation Army does a lot of referrals to other entities.
The food bank needs small, easy-open cans and goods that don’t need to be heated up, she said.
“We need a lot of food for the homeless,” Tabak said.
Washington-area food banks, some of which operate out of churches, all attempt to work together to ensure that when one pantry or kitchen is closed, another is open, Tabak continued.
“Believe it or not, there’s a lot of people that have to go out every week to a different agency and get food because they don’t have enough,” Tabak said.
Though Eagle’s Wings sees rises in food needs at various times of the year, it’s difficult to pin down when those needs will increase, indicated Reggie Baker, president of the group’s board of directors.
However, he said, Thanksgiving and Christmas are among the times of greatest demand.
“We’re always interested in donations of food and, of course, obviously through their churches or individually, of money that we can use to fill in the blanks, so to speak,” Baker said.
“The downturn in the economy has really had an impact on the poorest of the poor,” said the Rev. David Moore of Metropolitan, the church which houses Zion Shelter and Kitchen.
“A lot of people don’t understand how close families are to being homeless,” Moore added. “These are some difficult times. More than ever, the numbers have increased in the shelter, and they’ve increased in the soup kitchen.”
Asked what people can do to help, Moore said, “Especially around the holidays, it’s always good to get in the holiday spirit and help to support those that are less fortunate. Being a Christian nation, that’s something we ought to do anyway.”
Numbers of people served
by area food banks/kitchens
• Zion Shelter and Kitchen: 40-45 per day
• Eagle’s Wings: 319 families (805 individuals) in October; 50 of those families were new to the agency
• Salvation Army corps in Washington: 100-150 families per month
Sources: Food-bank workers, directors