St. Vincent de Paul Georgia Expands Food Delivery Services to Feed Those in Need During COVID-19 Pandemic
St. Vincent de Paul Georgia (SVdP Georgia) has shifted its food pantry operations by delivering food to meet the nutritional needs of food-insecure households throughout the state of Georgia for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic.
SVdP Georgia’s Emergency Food Drive and Mobile Food Pantry helps to provide boxes of groceries and non-perishable foods for hundreds of households throughout the state. In the past two weeks, St. Vincent de Paul Georgia Conferences and Family Support Centers have provided over 550 households with food boxes and 120 households with grocery gift cards. The SVdP Chamblee Family Support Center is delivering food Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to neighbors needing food assistance in metro-Atlanta and many local SVdP Conferences across the state are operating under this same delivery model. Those in need should reach out to the local Conference for specific services offered in their area by calling the SVdP Assistance Line at 678-892-6163.
“Each year, there are thousands of individuals, families and seniors who rely on our food pantry for help,” said John Berry, CEO of SVdP Georgia “Now, while we continue to serve our regular demand, we are having to ramp up our response to those facing hunger due to job losses, children being home and other challenges the crisis has sprung on vulnerable populations. We are advancing our ability to respond efficiently and effectively in communities so that food is not added to the list of worries for families during this pandemic.” John Berry added, “With our typically sources for food also being affected, we cannot stress enough that we cannot do it alone. We are grateful to the communities we serve for stepping up with food donations to help us continue to deliver help and hope through our food pantries.”
SVdP Georgia not only has a mission to support families directly, but is also working hard to serve the community in other ways like collaborating with other agencies who have food pantries. In the past three weeks, SVdP Georgia has provided these local organizations with over 3500 lbs. of fresh food that has a limited shelf life and must be distributed immediately.
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COVID-19 Response Updates at St. Vincent de Paul Georgia as of April 8
In addition to raising emergency funds, SVdP Georgia has made the following contingency plan adjustments for food pantry services:
- Food Delivery: SVdP Georgia will not allow clients inside of the facility as previously stated. Instead, prepared boxes of groceries will be available for delivery. Our food delivery distribution hours will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday by appointment only. Local SVdP Conferences are also operating home delivery and/or drive-thru pick up services based on volunteer capacity.
- Volunteers needed: SVdP Georgia seeks healthy volunteers who are not in the higher-risk demographic to help deliver food to clients throughout metro-Atlanta.
- Emergency Food Drive: Families affected by COVID-19 urgently need your support. If you are in a position to help, SVdP Georgia needs your food donations to help those affected by the pandemic. Please donate to our Emergency Food Drive or our COVID-19 Response Fund.
SVdP Georgia continues to operate for the duration of this community emergency. Updates are made daily on our website and social media as necessary. For more information about SVdP Georgia’s response to COVID-19 or how you can help, click here.
