Second Harvest provided free food at the Word Ministries Church parking lot from noon until 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Vehicles began arriving as early as 8:15 a.m. according to Germaine Simpson, a Eunice alderwoman.
“The food arrived at Word Ministries Church parking lot by 8:15 a.m. and traffic began to pick up. Thanks to the help of our city marshals, they began parking vehicles in rows in the lot, until it was time to start at noon for distribution,” she said.
Simpson said that the food was provided by the mobile food pantry out of New Orleans. She added, “A representative called our Eunice Food Bank asking how they could help and assist us. They wanted to provide food to our citizens. Mary Ann Guillory, director at our food bank, then contacted me because she knew there would be a large amount of food coming in. That’s when we needed to find a large place and parking lot to distribute food. A call was made out to Pastor Caleb Semien of Word Ministries, and he gladly gave us permission for the drive-through food drive.”
Robert Johnson, Eunice Recreation director, City Marshal Terry Darbonne, Pastor Kayla Givs of Restoring God’s Ministry and other individuals were contacted for assistance, and volunteer service. Some of Eunice city council members were out and about, giving a hand, and volunteering. Simpson said, “Many people, individuals volunteered in all capacities to help out. It’s great.”
Many volunteers arrived early Monday at the church parking lot. They assisted with setting up tables, setting up food boxes, distributing food into boxes, and loading boxes into trunks of vehicles.
Hundreds of vehicles drove through the line and volunteers met them at their opened car trunks and at the back of pick up trucks.
Hundreds of vehicles parked at the church parking lot, and waited their turn in line to drive through. Councilwoman Simpson added, “At one point, earlier this morning, there were eight rows of vehicles parked, waiting their turn to get in line for the food pick up.”
The Second Harvest out of New Orleans provided hundreds of food items, from, canned goods, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, vegetables, cheese, dairy products, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, yogurt, coffee, fryers, and much more.
According to Simpson there were 500 families served food. There were 350 boxes of food available. Simpson said that they ran out of food at about 1:30 p.m.
Simpson added, “I would like to extend a special thank you to Eunice High School food pantry as they donated food.”
All people remained inside their vehicle for the food pick up. Food boxes were provided on a first-come, first-service basis. Food boxes were available to two families per vehicle.
