One year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping the nation. In the ensuing 365 days, more than a half-million Americans died as a result of the virus, including 16,218 in Massachusetts and 816 across the nine North Shore communities in The Item’s coverage area.
Once the pandemic took hold, legions of nonprofit organizations and religious groups banded together to provide relief to the scores of families that required assistance, whether it was because they were victims of the disease or from the economic fallout that came with it. Particularly, there was a tremendous need for food.
The Salvation Army, in Lynn and elsewhere, took action immediately.
Almost immediately after the shutdown, Gov. Charlie Baker issued a state of emergency, and the Salvation Army responded. And few places needed it more than Lynn. The Salvation Army went from serving 60 families a day to 600 at its drive-through pantry.
In the beginning, the Salvation Army’s Lynn citadel, under the direction of Capt. Kevin and Helen Johnson, ran the pantry at its headquarters on Franklin Street. However, the demand quickly outgrew the location, with massive traffic jams resulting. In cooperation with the city, the Salvation Army moved its distribution location to the Manning Field parking lot, where, on many days, lines snaked through the lot in rows.
In the past year, spokeswoman Heather MacFarlane said that the Salvation Army has served more than 100,000 families and distributed more than five million meals to residents of Lynn and neighboring communities.
“People are struggling, and the Salvation Army is here serving,” she said.
“As experts in emergency feeding, we mobilized our Salvation Army’s Emergency Disasters Services (EDS) teams last March when life as we knew it changed,” said MacFarlane. “None of us ever imagined that in the year to follow, The Salvation Army Massachusetts Division would end up distributing more than 20 million meals in the Commonwealth.
“As Gov. Baker has said time and time again, he couldn’t go anywhere without seeing one of our Salvation Army ‘Doing the Most Good’ feeding boxes,” she said.
Additionally, she said, the Salvation Army provided shelter, heat, utility assistance, social services and so much more to our most vulnerable neighbors in every zip code across the state.
“Our doors have remained open to all,” she said.
