More than 20 churches in Brownsville are working with El Campo Initiative to deliver food to those who need it the most during the COVID-19 pandemic that has left thousands of residents without jobs.
On Thursday morning, thousands of meal boxes that include milk, produce, pre-cooked meat and face masks were picked up at the Ecclesia Community Church, located at 2000 N. Minnesota Ave., where dozens of mask-wearing volunteers would help unload the 18-wheelers to place the food boxes on the several trucks for the churches.
Millions of Americans have turned to food banks for the first time in their lives during this pandemic, AP News reported. An Associated Press data analysis found a sharp rise in the amount of food distributed compared with 2019.
The first place many Americans are finding relief is a neighborhood food pantry, most connected to vast networks of nonprofits, such as this one, which is lead by El Campo Initiative.
El Campo Initiative is a non-profit that helps communities by networking various churches resources to make an immediate impact and help starting or small churches be the blessing channel of their communities through collaboration and joint efforts.
Since April of last year, organizers of this event have been delivering food weekly at the church where dozens of church leaders show up in pick-up trucks or small trailers to take hundreds of meals to their church and have them picked up by residents who live in the area.
Unfortunately, the distribution had to stop for a few weeks due to lack of funding, but seeing the great need in the area for these events, funding has been secured for the three upcoming months.
“We just had to take a break because the funding wasn’t there but the funding is back, so, they gave us a call last week and we said we were ready to go,” James Martinez, a pastor and one of the organizers, said.
El Campo Initiative is the main organization hosting the event but there are other partners such as Urban Strategies, Farmers to Families, and World Vision. The event will take place at 8 a.m. every Thursday at the Ecclesia Community Church.
Moises Molina, a pastor and one of the organizers, said churches interested in receiving the food to deliver can contact him at (956) 455-9847 to start the registration process.
“They can just let us know that they’re interested,” he said. “They’ll receive a link to register and then after that all they have to do is letting us know how much they need and depending on the availability we’ll address the need.”
Molina said these events show the community that the church is one under Christ and that there is collaboration in the efforts to want to help the needy, which is one of the church’s biggest missions.
“It also shows people, whether they’re of faith or not, that what’s important is working together,” he said.
Molina said he wants to thank the volunteers that helped at the event and said it is important for the community to stay safe from the virus by taking the necessary measures.
“It is very important that we continue to not let our guard down,” he said. “We want to recommend and reinforce what our authorities are recommending. That we keep our distance, that we can do this event together with all the precautions and measures necessary.”
Other non-profit organizations in the area also continuing their food distribution events for the community such as United Way of Southern Cameron County — which hosts their mass distributions every Friday— and Good Neighbor Settlement House —which offers daily meals and grocery bags—. Leaders said they expect the need to continue throughout the whole year.
“From April to now, our numbers have tripled,” Hugo Zurita, executive director at Good Neighbor, said in a previous interview. “Every month we see about a 25 percent increase, and that’s just in our food pantry. Same thing, we were expecting it to go down to how it was in March or February but it hasn’t gone down, it keeps increasing.”
