The man who picked up a meal at the Lynn Salvation Army said he never imagined he could be classified as “food insecure” until the economic blow thrown by coronavirus cost him his restaurant job.
Thanks to the Salvation Army’s food program, the meals he takes home leave him money to pay his rent.
Since expanding its food program to five days a week in March, the Lynn Salvation Army has donated about 1.5 million meals during 43,000 visits to its 1 Franklin St. location.
“I just can’t afford the normal things right now,” the unemployed worker said.
Those stark words define the daily reality many people face as coronavirus continues to keep them out of work and worried about paying their bills.
The Salvation Army has always fed people and, prior to March and the pandemic’s onset, the 1 Franklin St. facility’s food pantry was open three days a week, feeding 75 to 90 families a day.
Volunteers, food donors and financial support sources rallied around the Salvation Army during the spring and the Franklin Street building hummed with activity as trucks rolled in with food and volunteers unloaded and stacked the donated food in the gymnasium.
According to Salvation Army organizer Captain Kevin Johnson, about 500 families during coronavirus receive food from the Lynn Salvation Army each day during its open hours from 9 a.m. to noon.
He said the pandemic has starkly highlighted the vulnerability to food insecurity faced by many Lynn residents employed as hourly workers.
Johnson and the Salvation Army’s volunteer corps aren’t letting their guard down as coronavirus case number and death rates decline in Massachusetts.
They are making plans for long-term food storage, permanent refrigeration, and potentially buying a forklift to facilitate efficient storage.
“We are a safety net in case people get quarantined again,” he said.
The Salvation Army and its food distribution volunteers are nothing less than a bulwark holding back starvation for residents in Lynn and surrounding communities.
