Second Harvest helping to fight hunger

Volunteer Amy Rogers oversees the July food distribution in Port St. Joe, with the help of volunteer Katrina McNeal, seated. [ David Adlerstein | The Star ]

Marvin Hollingsworth, at left, helps distribute watermelons, while volunteers in back, from left, Larry Chism, Debra Shackelford and Patty Fisher, from the Wewahitchka Woman’s Club, hand the bagged food to recipients. [ David Adlerstein | The Star ]

Lots of cardboard food boxes have to be recycled after each distribution. [ David Adlerstein | The Star ]

Motorists remain in their vehicles as cars line up in single file for maximum order and efficiency. [ David Adlerstein | The Star ]

The distribution site is organized so nothing gets wasted and all is given out. [ David Adlerstein | The Star ]

It’s been nearly six years since Hurricane Michael not only devastated properties in Gulf County, but left many families without sufficient means to shelter and nourish their families.

One legacy of that storm has been a sustained local, volunteer effort to make sure no one goes hungry at either end of the county.

Second Harvest of the Big Bend, in partnership with Gulf County United Community Development Corporation, Inc., is continuing to provide a cornucopia of healthy foods each month, generally alternating between sites in Port St. Joe and Wewahitchka.

On Saturday, Aug. 24, across from the Wewahitchka library in the parking lot of the old courthouse parking lot, volunteers will be at it again, just as they were Saturday, July 27 at the Long Avenue Baptist Church in Port St. Joe.

Amy Rogers, who manages the distributions on the fourth Saturday of each month, said as many as 25 to 30 volunteers take part in the task of unloading, separating, bagging and handing out the foodstuff.

Melons, corn, cabbage, squash, fresh meat, frozen foods, and much more were all part of the Port St. Joe distribution last month. Canned goods and pasta are also often available, although the assortment of foods varies based on season and availability, Rogers said. 

“I can serve up to 300 to 500 families per event, with a minimum of 200,” she said. “Volunteers also make deliveries to seniors and to the homebound.”

She said the distribution sites have varied, but tend to be churches because they have the necessary criteria of having a paved parking lot and easy accessibility.

“We’re looking for parking lots that are paved and looking at the logistics at how we can get trucks to come in and for safety purposes, and to move expediently,” Rogers said. “All that is taken into consideration. We have no office; the food is always given out and gone the same day.

“I’ve never seen a community without a church and with a church you got people,” she said. 

Because the Wewahitchka Woman’s Club is hosting an annual event Sept. 28, the distribution will be at Lake Alice Park that day as well, Rogers said.

Among the sites that have hosted distribution in Port St. Joe are the Long Avenue Baptist Church, Oak Grove Church, St. Peter’s Anglican Church, United Pentecostal Church, New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, Highland View Baptist Church, Highland View Assembly of God and Beach Baptist Church. In Wewa, Glad Tidings Assembly of God, Carter’s Temple First Born Church and West Side Baptist Church have all been sites.

“The most major part is it stops or slows down hunger in our county,” she said. “A lot of time hunger is left out, and this is helping to reduce or eliminate hunger. And with the high cost of food a lot of people do without necessary ingredients, proteins and vegetables necessary for a basic meal.”