By Taylor Boyd
Disaster Relief Food Ministry Inc., a local nonprofit organization, has received a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia Community Impact Fund to support its efforts to feed those in need.
Jimmy Willard, founder of the food ministry, said half of the funds will be used to purchase food, while the remaining $5,000 will go toward essential packaging supplies for distributions.
“It’s a lifesaver. We were struggling and pinching pennies,” he said, adding that the funds have already been deposited into the organization’s account.
Willard said the ministry’s biggest expenses are the boxes used for food distributions and fuel for its mobile food pantries.
“We get the food at a reduced cost, and we can buy a lot of it. We’ll get a lot of food for $5,000, and those boxes, we’ll eat those 5,000 boxes up in no time,” he said.
The organization purchases its boxes from Blue Ridge Packaging in Ridgeway. Willard said the boxes have two handholds and can hold about 40 pounds of food.
“We try to put that much in there depending on what we got. We try to put at least 10 canned items in there — it’s enough to sustain a family for two or three weeks to where any other food bank is open,” he said.
Because of health regulations, Willard said the ministry cannot reuse boxes that are returned.
Organization Secretary Kirsten Beasley applied for the grant late last year.
“She wrote the grant for us and we were able to get it. It was a blessing,” Willard said.
Willard said the grant comes at a critical time as demand continues to rise. He estimates the ministry serves about 1,400 people each month.
“I can stay at the warehouse working” to prepare for distribution days, and “I gave out maybe seven or eight boxes to people just stopping by. The need has really increased. It’s just an increase every month that it seems like we get a lot of new people,” he said.
The ministry is affiliated with Feeding Southwest Virginia and God’s Pit Crew and receives food from both organizations. Anyone in need may receive a food box.
“If you’re on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits it automatically qualifies you. The income guidelines I can’t really post what that is, but everybody qualifies for a box — nobody’s going to leave without a box of food. Feeding Southwest Virginia told us to make sure that nobody left without a food box,” he said.
Like many nonprofits, Willard attributes the increased demand to rising food costs.
To help meet the need, Willard said the group is discussing reopening its Patrick County distribution site at Rotary Field in Stuart.
“With this grant, it may open the opportunity to come back to Rotary Field. We’ve been talking about it, but we’ve not set anything in stone yet. We’re praying and talking about it,” he said.
Willard said the ministry is also seeking additional grants for capital improvements.
“We’re looking at doing some work on the building and stuff. We want to put a leveling load dock on there because my truck is higher than the load dock, and that makes it hard to unload and load there. We got a drop ceiling that needs to be repaired, and just some things like that going on,” he said.
The group distributes boxes at its Bassett location, 24A Governor Stanley Highway, on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Its mobile food pantry visits Smith Brother Trucking in Ararat from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and Meadows of Dan Baptist Church from 1 to 2 p.m. on the last Saturday of each month.
Donations may be mailed to P.O. Box 993, Stuart, VA 24171.
For more information, visit drfminc.com, Facebook.com/DisasterReliefFoodMinistryInc., call (276) 229-6272, or email drfm.inc@gmail.com.
