Answering the Call (ATC), a program sponsored by the First United Methodist Church in Eureka Springs that has been delivering meals to those in need during the Covid pandemic, is joining up with the Flint Street Fellowship food pantry to deliver food to people currently having difficulty getting adequate and nutritious food.
Flint Street provides free food and household supplies on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to people who come to the Little Chapel on Flint Street downtown. Bill Featherstone, a volunteer who manages drivers for ATC, said the new delivery program would help with people who have difficulties getting to Flint Street either because of lack of personal transportation or access to public transportation, lack of money for gas, illnesses or health restrictions, or because they are working the hours the pantry is open.
“The idea of the new collaboration is to address some of the problems by identifying people having trouble getting food and delivering it to them like we do with meals from ATC,” Featherstone said. “As with the ATC mission, these food boxes are available to anyone in the Western District of Carroll County. However, unlike the ATC mission to this point, this new service is available to anyone with food needs, Covid-related or not. Flint Street, A Cup of Love, ATC and others have put a big dent in the number of people in our area who are food insecure. But all of us know there are still people who are falling between the cracks.”
Working from statistics from the 2020 census and from the group Feeding America, Featherstone estimated that 1,000 to 1,500 people in the Western District are food insecure. USDA defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.” It includes people who, on a daily basis, may not be going hungry, but they aren’t eating nutritious food.
“Your belly may be full from eating chips, candy, cookies or breakfast cereal full of sugar, but you are not getting good nutrition,” Featherstone said.
He continued that since this collaboration between ATC and Flint Street is a pilot program, it is subject to change and evolution. He said there are also large, long-range plans in the works that will probably ultimately alter this service.
Drivers for ATC received an email from Featherstone asking them if they were interested in helping to deliver food boxes prepared by Flint Street. The email said that the program would work just the same as what ATC has been doing since April 2020, other than the food and packaging will be different. Drivers will simply show up, pick up, and deliver. One of the benefits in doing this would be to give as many people as possible the chance to help their neighbors.
As with ATC, volunteers will be part of a rotation, but will have the freedom to volunteer any given week, or opt out any given week that their name rolls around. It may also be possible to structure this where drivers can deliver as few as one box or as many as they want, depending on time constraints.
“And to be clear, this new service is over and above ATC’s Wednesday meal deliveries, which will continue indefinitely,” Featherstone said.
Featherstone said that the new program is an exciting way to help better serve those who struggle with food insecurity in our community. More information will be provided to volunteers as the program evolves.
“For now, just know that this pilot program, as well as the bigger plans ahead, simply involve getting more food to more people more efficiently. Healthy food,” he said. “The end goal is to better ensure that no one goes hungry or undernourished in our area, especially the young and the old, and that inconvenience or inability to pick up food is never the reason for anyone going food insecure.”
To have food delivered to your home, call Martie at (479) 253-8987 or email her at martie@atcforeureka.com. To volunteer as a driver, please send an email to bill@atcforeureka.com or text him at (479) 981-1991.