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Twenty-eight pallets of frozen meat, produce and other goods were on hand to help Selma residents affected by the tornado. This is the first of several mobile food pantries the Beacon Center plans to bring to Selma to continue their support of Selma residents as they recover from the tornado. The next mobile pantry will be Friday, February 3.<\/p>\n
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The need for a food pantry came after Roy Salisbury, who is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, spent last week helping a Selma resident cleanup debris and the pair saw someone digging in the trash for groceries.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI reached out to my fraternity brother, Richard Williams, and he answered the call with the mobile pantry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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More than 300 households were reached during the mobile pantry on Friday as cars lined the street for hours to get a carload of groceries. One hundred cars were served in the first 40 minutes of the drive and they hit more than 200 by 2:20 p.m.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are committing to doing more and more pantries,\u201d said Pastor Richard Williams of Metropolitan United Methodist Church. \u201cWhen someone\u2019s pantry is wiped out it takes a while to build it back up, and we want to help them do that so they don\u2019t have to choose between that and buying things such as medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
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State Sen. Rob Stewart served at the mobile food pantry helping direct traffic.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHistoric First Baptist Church on MLK has been a beacon of civil rights,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have been feeding people every day since the disaster. One of the things we have to continue to do is solve food insecurity and today, we have fresh fruit, fresh produce and food from the people at Metropolitan. Our people are budget stretched with many people paying for hotels while they are awaiting FEMA and their insurance companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Just down the road on Broad Street,\u00a0The Knights & Orchids Society<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Hometown Organizing Project<\/a>\u00a0were busy loading supplies to take to the Beloit and Orrville communities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAs we support those affected by this recent devastation, it helps our entire community know that by coming together we can all make a positive difference,\u201d said Jennine Bell, co-director of TKO Society.\u00a0 \u201cWe’ve been providing those in need with water, hot meals, diapers and baby essentials, as well as shelter. Other local businesses and organizations are in this with us, doing all that they can as well. So even in times like this, it just goes to show that Selma is not only home to those who have great strength, but great hope and a deep sense of community.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TKO Society will deliver a truckload of supplies to the Beloit Community Center at 11 a.m., on Saturday, January 21. Supplies include diapers, wipes, baby food, pull-ups, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, snacks and more.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Warren Tidwell, community resilience organizer at Hometown Organizing Project, joined in helping TKO Society as part of their disaster response, but has also been assessing damage and needs across the state.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHometown Organizing has been in every county hit by the tornadoes,\u201d Tidwell said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He emphasized the importance of long-term recovery help for Selma and other rural areas impacted by the tornadoes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tidwell said he has spent the week assessing the needs across Alabama, so that his organization can work to best support the needs of the communities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of help going on now and that\u2019s great,\u201d Tidwell said. \u201cBut there will be a long term need for help and there is a need to maintain that energy. Our organization will be second responders and will be here for the long term working in rural communities to ensure their recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stewart said there is a huge need for cleaning up trees on private property, baby formula, diapers, shovels, rakes, snacks and bottled water.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n City Council President Billy Young said that the major goal right now is to make sure that Selma residents\u2019 immediate needs are met.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He said there is a large need for tarps to help residents in covering their homes until repair work can be completed to help prevent further damage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a need for hygiene products and blankets and pillows,\u201d he said \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t have bedding and some are trying to stay at their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Young said anyone who has access to chainsaws, there is a huge need for help with cleanup.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe need their expertise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Young said those who are able to help with cleanup can contact one of the two command centers at the Dallas County Courthouse Annex or at the George Evans Reception Building.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOf course, they can contact any church, as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Young was thankful for the outpouring of support to Selma.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe are a community of nonprofits and churches and they are the heart of our community,\u201d he said. \u201cLove is an action, and we are being shown love through these demonstrations of love. Disaster really puts things into perspective for you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis will be a long, yet persistent recovery long after the cameras are gone,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n Coretta Scott King once said, \u201cThe...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56054,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56053\/revisions\/56054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/4X8fFS_gDY_OVQuZ2MLUZ3o_o-er6FNbqfPgeeZTQDehkisHAL9Zmbodm2fbD1Yua8amue706j66A6cO2Ir2gIWWEaIjRzfa8tpGI0LEuBswMZRtHjTR65S1TG-Hjw-aVAG-WO-79Kf3V7MMKdj4nKRsgHJIIZssdbWkS8b1Okh2CQGOaoyyVVwOtTltLA\")