Drive-Thru Food Drive

“This is a collaboration in the truest sense,” Silbrina Wright, GJAC Executive Director says. “Everyone is coming together to address what are significant needs in this community. Artists have been among the hardest hit by both the pandemic and winter storm. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s support is allowing us to help that sector and as many others as we can reach during this difficult period.”

A total of 2,400 packages will be distributed curbside at the intersection of Lamar Street and Pascagoula directly between the Arts Center of Mississippi and Convention Center Complex. This first-come, first-served offering will begin at 11:00 AM and include a 20-pound box of non-perishable food items, 10-pound bag of chicken, a 7-pound assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, and bottled water.

“The aftermath of the winter storm is like COVID-19 in that the impact only exacerbated existing inequities in our economic and food systems,” Julian Miller, co-founder of the Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice says. “Efforts like these are important. We need more of them.”

Other partners involved in the upcoming drive include Ageco, LLC, Bennie G. Thompson Delta Leadership Initiative, Choices for Children and Family (in partnership with LabLINQ), Foot Print Farms, Greenville Local Organizing Committee, LeFleur’s Bluff Chapter of the Links, Mississippi Crisis Foundation, People’s Advocacy Institute, Tougaloo Agri-Growth Initiative, Visit Jackson, and student volunteers from Jackson State University and Tougaloo.

In addition to Saturday’s primary food bank location in Downtown Jackson, a small number of satellite sites will be announced soon in areas that are home to the most vulnerable Jacksonians.

“We are truly grateful to all of the partners who have come together in this effort,” Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba says. “The need is out there, and it’s going to take the collective conscience, generosity and spirit of all of us to help people through this crisis.”