Shortly after 10:30 a.m., people begin lining up behind the traffic cones at the window. There is scattered conversation throughout the line, but everyone is here for a reason.
These people need a meal. That is why they come to Loaves and Fishes at 223 22nd St. N., Lowndes County’s soup kitchen.
Each has their own story and circumstances that landed them here.
“I had a stroke four times,” said Valine Rush, a patron of the soup kitchen. “Life is too short. I was in the hospital for six months. I was blind and in a wheelchair. God’s got me and I’m still here to see another day.”
Rush has been coming to the soup kitchen for years and has never lost that optimistic outlook. She is instead thankful for the volunteers who make sure she receives a meal.
“They are great,” Rush said. “They are doing their job. They say, ‘Have y’all had a good day?’ I’ll say, ‘Yes ma’am or no ma’am.’ Their food is good. I like how they cook.”
On Friday, the fare was fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Some days, it’s soups and sandwiches. Other days, it includes baked ham and vegetables such as green beans.
She will often hang around and carry meals to people in cars who cannot get out.
1 in 4 Mississippians
Rush is just one of nearly 350 people who come out to receive a free meal from Loaves and Fishes six days a week. The number of people served has been steadily increasing since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, the group served 28,000, said Steve Greenough, vice president for house management and team building for the group. That rose to 45,000 in 2021 and 67,000 in 2022.
The organization is on pace to serve 84,000 meals by this year’s end, he said.
“There’s really two main reasons for (the increase),” said Lee Burdine, co-president for the organization. “One is that our volunteer groups here in town really stepped up and have added serving days. … The next part is we have people in our community that are hungry. When hunger kicks in, it’s a very strong, human response, and they need to go find some food. They know we’re over there and that we’re serving six days a week, so people come and we are not going to turn anybody away as long as we have food.”
This is a problem across the state. The Mississippi Food Network, a nonprofit that combats hunger in the state through various programs, reports that there are more than 600,000 Mississippians, or 1 in every 4, who face food insecurity.
Loaves and Fishes is a purely volunteer organization and is entering its 15th year of service. It has 34 groups of churches, civic clubs and other community organizations, which volunteer to serve one or more days a month. It serves meals Monday through Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.
“We have been volunteering for two years,” said Marilyn Agnew with Hopewell M.B. Church. “To give to the community is a great thing. We enjoy what we do. I am grateful. We do it from the heart.”
Each group decides on the menu and provides the ingredients. The meals are prepared and handed out on site.
“It’s all about the mission work,” said Chan Johnson with Hopewell. “That’s what Christ expects us to do. … It’s a great mission, not only to help feed the body but also feed the soul.”
Many soup kitchens offer a sit down meal where people eat on location, and Loaves and Fishes once did as well. However, during the pandemic the group began handing out to-go meals, and it stuck.
“That’s what we’ve been doing ever since because we reach more people,” Greenough said.
‘We feed them’
The soup kitchen in Starkville has maintained that sit-down format.
Casserole Kitchen, a conglomeration of 17 churches, serves hot meals three times a week and has operated for 14 years. Meals are served on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 11 a.m., at the parish hall of the Episcopal Church, 105 N. Montgomery St.
Unlike Loaves and Fishes, Casserole Kitchen has remained relatively steady in the number of meals provided.
“We are averaging 40 to 50 per meal, so that’s about 130 to 150 meals a week that we serve,” said Rex Buffington, who is part of the organization. “That’s kind of where we are right now. We’ve had some shifts up and down, but really, we’ve stayed relatively steady.”
While the number of meals served are vastly different for the two organizations, each stands firm on one principle.
“Anybody who shows up and is hungry, we feed them,” Buffington said.
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