How the presence of food pantries saved my life

Limus Woods

When I went to the DSS office in Charlotte the other day, my case worker said I just need to bring back my current rent receipts and proof of income to get my food stamps.

Simple enough. Nothing that I haven’t done before, whether I was applying for them in Myrtle Beach or Massachusetts. But the thing is, I knew that it was now gonna be another week or so before I had any benefits added to my current North Carolina EBT card since I now had to bring her back all this info.

She said that I had until the 10th to bring her the stuff, or I may not get all of, or maybe any, food stamps. So, I’ll do it. But, in the meantime, I went to the food pantry at Hickory Grove Church today.

The food pantry I visited in Charlotte

The line of cars is always, always long with locals at the church every Tuesday from 9-11 a.m., the time they always do it. Every now and then they will have to skip a Tuesday, like they will be doing on June 20, for example.

I interviewed a couple of people who were handing out the food, and one of them was named Beverly Anthony.

“Well, I am a member of the Hickory Grove Church,” she began. “But it is not the building, but the people inside of the building that make the church. Jesus tells us who He is out of his own mouth. He calls Himself The Bread of Life, the Living Water.” Mrs. Anthony explained to me why she volunteers to hand out food every Tuesday.

“We are here at this food pantry as, first of all, believers in Jesus and what he has done for us,” she continued. “We are in need of a Savior, and we all fall short of glory because of sin. We could not work our way to God but through Jesus. So, it is not us here at this food pantry trying to work our way toward salvation. We have simply received Jesus Christ by faith. We provide physical food here at the pantry, but this physical food just represents who Jesus Christ is, and that’s the spiritual food. That’s the hole that Jesus Christ can fill in each and every one of our lives.”

There was also a nice police officer with them named Ashley Brown, who’d been handing out food since late 2019.

“I’m from Union County, but I’ve worked for CMPD since I was 18,” she told me.

“Have y’all had any trouble out here so far in this long line of cars?” I asked.

“There was only one situation since pre-covid that I’ve seen happen out here, where one patron felt that they didn’t get enough food,” said the helpful officer. “I just told them the truth, that they got the same amount as everyone else…so, we’ll see ya’ next week!”

“I see a few other police officers out here besides yourself,” I responded. “Do you all get assigned by the department to come and hand out food, or is it a personal choice?”

“My boss is like ‘Oh, that’s what you’re doing, OK…’, and he’s fine with it,” she said. “But, no, no one asked me to come out here. We would partner with the church and help them with excess food. We’d put it in the refrigerated truck and hand out the rest in the community as a mobile food pantry, which is how we started partnering with them on a police level.”

When I lived in Horry County, South Carolina, I visited that pantry once a month, which was all you were allowed at Helping Hand of Myrtle Beach. One time, I was living at the Aqua Beach Inn near Ocean Boulevard for like $225 weekly and had to renew my food stamps. I remember saying to myself, “I am gonna write an article about how good these people at pantries have been to me one day…”.

And, that day is today.

Food stamps and food pantries saved my life

Almost everyone I know has applied for food stamps at some point in their lives and/or visited a food pantry in their city, especially during the pandemic.

Food stamps are what I’ve been calling them all my life, but they’re actually called SNAP benefits now. It stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the money for food is loaded onto what is called an EBT card, for all of my readers who have never gotten food stamps before.

Back in the day, there used to be actual paper stamps that my mother would take to the store to purchase food for the family. But then, in 1990, paper food stamps got replaced by what we use today, an EBT card, which stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer.

Over the next few years, I want to make more money so that I don’t need food stamps anymore. That day is not very far ahead, and I thank God that my writing career is getting to that point income-wise.

But, until then, I’m thankful to all the people and volunteers in all the cities that I’ve ever lived in for the blessed work that they do at DSS offices and  food pantries, because the food they have given me has helped me keep my weight up for many years, and I will always love y’all very much for that.

Limus Woods lives and blogs in Charlotte.  

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