It’s been just over eight weeks since the city of Hapeville implemented its free food pantry for residents and the need has only grown.
Due to the pandemic, food scarcity has become a harsh reality for many in the Tri-Cities area, particularly in Hapeville where many residents held jobs in the airport, airline, or hospitality industries.
My East Point News spoke with the director of Hapeville’s Recreation Department, Tod Nichols, who had this to say,
“It's something that the staff was kind of leery about at first, but as we kept going, people would tell us, ‘thank you,’ God bless you, we really needed this,” said Nichols. “It really does something to you (to hear that).”
He credits many of the logistics of Hapeville’s food pantry to neighboring Tri-City, East Point who has been operating their food pantry since March. The majority of the food pantry’s provisions are provided weekly by a local food distribution organization, The Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB).
“I want to steal a line from Shellord (Pickett) in East Point, where he says that we went from recreation business to distributing food business,” said Nichols.
On food pantry distribution days, the ACFB delivers to the Hoyt Center every Wednesday between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. The staff and volunteers adhere to social distancing protocol with masks, sanitizing, and gloves.
The location and day of the week for the Hapeville Food Pantry is:
EVERY WEDNESDAY
Hoyt Smith Conference Center | 2:45 p.m. - Finished
3444 North Fulton Avenue
Hapeville, GA 30354
For more information about the city’s food pantry, visit the Hapeville website, and to learn more about local food distribution, visit The Atlanta Community Food Bank website.
Want more Tri-Cities news? Like us on Facebook.