Du Quoin WEEOC food pantry drops to one day a week, but plenty of food

The Du Quoin WEEOC office on Washington Street had to cancel its March 20 event at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds because of the coronavirus outbreak, but the one thing they couldn't cancel was 27,000 pounds of food.

Part of the big event was to be a food fair, where people could stock up on all kinds of fresh foods, canned food and even meat - all while they were looking at the booths set up by 50 or so service agencies inside the Exhibit Hall at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds.

Last Friday, then, Ashley Greer and her team of 15 volunteers at the Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity center hosted the food fair. They boxed up and gave away the food to 219 families who drove through the parking lot, where the boxes were safely put into their cars - without coming within six feet of the volunteers.

"We ran it like our mobile markets, only it was bigger," said Greer, community service coordinator for the Du Quoin WEEOC.

Meanwhile, the ongoing pandemic is causing a change in the weekly food pantries at WEEOC. Instead of two open food pantries each week, the agency is cutting back to one - from 1 to 3 p.m. every Thursday.

Greer said they want to have as much food to distribute on Thursdays as they are used to providing on Tuesdays and Thursdays combined.

The reason for the change is to limit the exposure of WEEOC volunteers to other people, and lessen their chances of coming into contact with the coronavirus, Greer said.

Word got around this past week. Normally about 40 people come to each food pantry, but on Tuesday of this week there were 85 cars lined up.

The food pantry will be held outside - like the mobile markets - instead of clients coming inside the building, she added.

Greer said she still intends to hold a big event with dozens of service providers, once the pandemic is finally over.