SC Midlands organizations serving the needy stay open during coronavirus outbreak

For Annie Krawczuk, coronavirus itself is the least of her worries.

Krawczuk is worried about being quarantined in her room for weeks. She’s worried about getting misinformation about COVID-19. And she’s worried about going hungry, Krawczuk told The State.

What’s more threatening to Krawczuk and other homeless people isn’t COIVD-19; it’s the prospect of losing their access to basic services.

“In maybe five days, or a week’s time, where is our food going to come from?” Krawczuk said.

Fortunately for Krawczuk, who is a resident at Transitions, a homeless center on Main Street in downtown Columbia, Midlands organizations that assist people in need are determined to stay open. But coronavirus is causing these organizations to make changes to how they serve people during the pandemic, which could upend life for the homeless population in the Midlands.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” Krawczuk said.

‘Not just a sandwich’

On most weekdays, the soup cellar at Washington Street United Methodist Church is a cool reprieve from the heat or the rain; it’s a place for the hungry to rest, a place to chat and a place to enjoy Terrence Chisolm’s famous chicken and noodle or potato and bacon soup.

But Tuesday, the soup cellar was quiet. Chairs were folded stacked atop tables. People took their sandwiches, snacks and drinks in a plastic shopping bag and walked back out. No soup was served.

“Usually this place is filled,” said Chisholm, the manager of the soup cellar, as he looked around the empty basement. “They just like to come here and take a load off. ... A lot of them want a break and they appreciate it.”

“That’s what it’s about, to me, is making them feel comfortable, like someone cares,” Chisholm said.

Though the format was different, the number of people who came to the soup cellar Tuesday was about average: 135 people.

“A lot of them depend on that interaction with people,” said Kelly Flanders, a member of Northeast Presbyterian Church who was volunteering Tuesday. “It’s not just a sandwich.”

Washington Street Methodist Church is one of the many resources for the hungry or homeless that are determined to stay open amid the coronavirus pandemic, but are being forced to change how they operate to protect their staff and the people who rely upon them.

“We are planning to keep serving,” said Senior Pastor Patricia Parrish “It’s just a different way of serving.”

For example, Transitions in downtown Columbia is doing everything it can to keep feeding and housing people in need, even as the virus spreads, Transitions CEO Craig Currey told The State.

“We want to stay open. We want to keep serving our homeless population as best we can,” Currey said. “The reality is we don’t want people out on the street. If we close our doors, that’s 260 people who are sleeping on a sidewalk.”

But what that will look like in two, three or four weeks, nobody knows, he told The State.

That could mean converting the inclement weather center at 191 Calhoun St. into a quarantine area, which Currey thinks is likely.

“They’re worried about services,” Currey said of the area’s homeless population. “The ones I’ve talked to are worried they’ll get put out on the street.”

Already, Transitions has broken up its meals into A, B and C groups so that when it feeds people, they’re not all congregating in one space. The food is served on disposable plates and disposable plasticware, a departure from the reusable metal flatware that helps Transitions save money and produce less trash, Currey said.

However, there are limitations to what they can do.

For one, “It’s really hard for a homeless center to work from home,” Currey said.

But also, Transitions’ staff is made of social workers, case managers, volunteers, administrative positions and others. Transitions doesn’t have doctors, nurses or epidemiologists on staff. It doesn’t have a stockpile of masks, gowns and other sanitary gear.

“It was never designed as a quarantine facility,” Currey said.

Other organizations that provide food to the hungry, such as Mission Lexington and Harvest Hope Food Bank are switching to a drive-through system, officials from both organizations told The State.

Mission Lexington will keep its thrift store open and all donations will be held in containers for 72 hours before being sorted, said Executive Director Robin Bowers.

The United Way of the Midlands has been working with homeless shelters, food banks and more to help pass along valuable information on how to boost sanitation, according to a release from the organization.

It’s not just resources that are being strained for homeless people in the Midlands. The City of Columbia has closed all parks “until further notice” because of coronavirus. That includes parks frequented by the homeless population, such as Finaly Park.

When a reporter went to the park on Tuesday, the bathroom doors were locked.

Nobody The State spoke to was sure where the homeless people who usually stay at Finlay Park would go now that it was closed.

Travis Hardick, who talked to The State after grabbing a meal from Washington Street United Methodist Church, said he has been treated differently since the coronavirus outbreak.

“They are being treated very differently, like they’re scum and that’s not where (coronavirus) is coming from,” Hardick said.

Hardick pointed out that the first cases of coronavirus in South Carolina came from outside the state and were likely people with enough means to afford a plane ticket or a car.

Panic

Not only do the homeless and the hungry face the possibility of having their essential services disrupted, they also are disproportionately affected by panic-buying, some advocates for homelessness said.

For example, most of Harvest Hope’s food comes from grocery store donations, said Taylor Davids, a spokeswoman for the food pantry.

That means as people panic-buy nonperishable items from both grocery stores and online sellers like Amazon — or if stores begin curtailing inventory after the panic-buys have stopped, and people are staying away from grocery stores — it’s going to choke the pipeline of food to Harvest Hope, Davids said.

“People coming here ... are concerned about the food supply,” Davids said.

Some homeless shelters and food banks have been stocking up for weeks, which could help insulate them against the effects of panic-buying, said Jennifer Moore, a top financial official at the United Way of the Midlands.

In a four-hour span on Tuesday, Harvest Hope distributed groceries to 175 families (about 600 people), which is average, Davids said. However, she expects that number to increase.

“As the days progress and people don’t get their paychecks, that number will increase,” Davids said.

That means homeless shelters and food pantries have been in need of donations.

“The most important thing right now is going to be ... food, because people are buying everything off the shelves,” Bowers said.

How you can help

Donate. Food pantries are likely to see an increased demand because some people who cannot get paid during the outbreak may rely on food banks, said Bowers, executive director of Mission Lexington. The organization needs money now or non-perishables in about two weeks when supplies begin to run low, Bowers said.

• Washington Street Methodist Church needs chips, granola bars, snack crackers and other individual-sized goods to hand out in lieu of soup, Parrish said.
• Transitions is in need of money to purchase cleaning equipment, disposable plasticware and protective gear, Currey said.
• Harvest Hope also is in need of volunteers and money. Davids said donors’ money goes further at a food shelter than by buying and dropping off goods because the shelter buys in bulk.

Volunteer if you’re healthy. Washington Street Methodist Church, Harvest Hope and Mission Lexington are losing volunteers because many of them are elderly and are afraid of contracting coronavirus, said Bowers, Davids and Parrish.

“Most of our volunteers are older and they’re not coming,” Davids said.

This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 1:00 PM.