Open Arms, Inc. will be providing emergency food distribution TODAY at 239 Railroad Avenue in Philadelphia, MS. The food bags will be handed out curbside with a drive-by distribution one per car from 4:30-6:30 pm. People are asked to line up from the direction of Old Mexico and continue north to the Open Arms building. The bags will be handed into the passenger side window by volunteers wearing gloves and masks.
According to Co-Chair John Bowen, “Open Arms is delighted to again provide grocery bags of food staples to the local residents of Neshoba County today. We have been feeding residents in need of a hot meal since 2013. We were doing this on the second and fourth Tuesdays at our building. Now with the current crisis, we were looking for ways to help our community. There are so many people in need of food in Philadelphia and Neshoba County. We received a generous donation to help with this project. So, today, we hope this emergency food distribution will help the elderly, folks with children at home in need and others who are having trouble.”
“Last month, we had a great turnout providing food for over 240 people in our community. It’s a blessing we have so many gracious volunteers and community supporters,” says Co-Chair Kaye Rowell. “We are trying to do this in the safest way for our volunteers and recipients. We cannot accept anyone walking up and we cannot deliver. It is for everyone’s protection. We need everyone to stay in their car and it will be one bag per car handed out. We are delighted Rotary Club will again help us with this distribution. In fact, their volunteers all wanted to help and we had to limit how many volunteers we could let help us due to the safety protocols. There are so many generous people in our community.”
The City of Philadelphia Police department will be on hand directing all the traffic. The traffic will only enter on Railroad Avenue and depart turning down Rea Street. “Mayor Young and the City of Philadelphia are so supportive of the Open Arms mission to serve our community with food for those in need, “states Bowen.
