Community Quarterbacking

“This is significant.”

Tiffany Capers, the Executive Director for CrossRoads, was watching as Governor Cooper announced he had signed an executive order closing all public schools in North Carolina. “What will children who rely on school to meet academic, social, and nutritional needs do? I wondered what plan would CMS activate to ensure at least two of the most obvious needs—learning and food—did not go unmet. This is always the question I have when students who are already in vulnerable positions experience a disruption. How does the system respond given the extenuating circumstances of their situations? Can the system respond?”

As a “community quarterback” organization, CrossRoads was well placed to marshal resources that would address the needs of the community in the Grier Heights neighborhood of Charlotte. Tiffany got on the phone with other community leaders on Saturday when they heard the announcement. “We sent a message to congregations and to our broader support and partner base by Sunday morning. We had donations by Sunday afternoon.” 

So many donations, in fact, that they needed to scale up their distribution to match. Even then, the need remains for many families who may not know where their next meal is coming from.

Citywide, there has been an overwhelming demand for food. “Our neighbors are finding themselves in desperate situations, many for the first time in their lives,” says Tina Postel, Executive Director of Loaves and Fishes, one of our food-access partners serving Charlotte. They served over 15,535 individuals in April, an increase of 240% over April of 2019. “While the challenges are great right now, so are the blessings. Every day, people contact us offering financial support, food donations, volunteer help, and prayers,” says Tina. “The world can seem like a scary place right now, but at Loaves and Fishes we get to experience humanity at its finest on a daily basis!”

They’re not alone. Families of all shapes and sizes are re-framing their ideas of service and outreach. Backyard lunch packing parties have replaced face-to-face outreach. We’re leaning on the relationships we’ve developed over the years and long to return to. Until that can happen, our ministry has to adapt.

Even the church kitchen has re-tooled its mission to provide emergency support to our Outreach partners at the Men’s Shelter, Hope Haven, and Charlotte Rescue Mission. “Without all of our regular meetings and Weekday School meals, we were looking for a way to help the community and stay busy,” says Debbie Armstrong, one of the food service employees at MPPC. She does some quick mental calculation and continues, “We’ve got to be hitting about 300 casseroles this week. That’s a lot of meals.” In fact, that’s well over 2,500 meals. 

 Food collection boxes with homemade signs. Brown paper bags. Foil casserole trays. That’s a big part of what our outreach efforts look like these days. “It means a lot to be doing this,” says Debbie. “It’s special. This is real special.”