Manna Ministries Food Pantry, Raleigh Assembly of God Church

Carrie Campbell

Dyersburg Mobile Pantry

For Carrie Campbell, the Feed the Need Mobile Pantry means a lot. "This is a nice program," she says. An employee of Dyersburg Fabric for 18 years, Carrie retired in 1991. The plant closed a few years later. She is single and lives alone. She's 71 now and she likes having her independence. She has never applied for SNAP (food stamps) because friends have told her that it's too much trouble. She gets her monthly Social Security check, but with no cost of living increase in Social Security for two years, she is finding it harder to make ends meet. But she takes it in stride. "Hard times can come to anybody," she says. "People here are just like everybody else. This really, really helps me. The folks are so friendly and helpful. This is a blessing." Manna Ministries Food Pantry, Raleigh Assembly of God Church

Cassaundra

The Manna Ministries Food Pantry is open one Saturday every month. People come in and are greeted by volunteers who welcome them in and direct them to the orientation session, which is offered in English and Spanish in this neighborhood with many Hispanic families. After orientation comes the screening process, which is handled quickly by volunteers at several tables. Clients then move on to receive their food.

Cassaundra and her husband have three children, ages seven, six and four. A few months ago she found out she's pregnant again. "This was completely unplanned!" she says. She had given away all her baby clothes and is looking at those expenses, plus another mouth to feed. Her husband has a job and she used to work two jobs, but the pregnancy has made her too tired to clean houses for two different services so she's cut back to one. The family receives SNAP benefits, but their benefits have been cut twice because of their income.

The children are all in school now and Cassaundra packs lunches for them. She's seen the price of food go up so she knew was going to need some help. That's why she's at Manna Ministries Food Pantry. "This program helps us get by after SNAP runs out," she says. "It helps us by taking a lot of the stress and worry when you're not always trying to figure out how to stretch your food."

Raleigh Assembly of God, Manna Ministries

Jerrod

Jerrod is only 19 years old. He's been homeless for about a year. His mother kicked him out of the house when he turned 18 because "that's when the child support stopped." He has trouble reading so it's hard for him to fill out job applications or take tests. He makes the food he gets at the church soup kitchen and pantry last all month until he can find some kind of work.

University Coalition Pantry, St. Luke's Methodist

Alex lost his job almost a year ago. He thought it would be easy to find something else, but he's been looking for a long time and nothing has worked out. He's doing his best to keep up car payments and rent, and his wife has a job, but with a new baby on the way, she'll have to quit soon. "Things are kind of messed up for us right now," he says

A friend told Alex about the food pantry at the church in their neighborhood. "I don't know what we'd do without this pantry helping out," he says. "We're really blessed to have it."