Convoy of Hope continues working to provide food for those who are struggling financially due to the coronavirus pandemic. Michele Skalicky interviewed the nonprofit's national spokesman, Jeff Nene, about their national and international effort.
Interview with Jeff Nene, national spokesman for Convoy of Hope
Convoy of Hope has been on the front lines throughout the pandemic--you were there from the beginning helping those who need food assistance. What services are you offering?
"The biggest thing that we have done in response to the coronavirus is provide meals. We're providing some supplies as well, but the primary focus for us has been meals. And way back in early March as this started to escalate, we thought we can either respond in a strong way or we can kind of circle the wagons and just protect what we have, and Convoy's never done that. We've always stepped out, and, if there's a big need, we respond in a big way. And so, our president announced an initiative where we were going to provide 10 million meals to people all across the United States affected by the coronavirus. And, in our disaster response, we're usually focused on just one area like southern Florida or North Carolina or something like that where a disaster has hit, not something that's affected the while country. So, he said, 'we're going to provide 10 million meals to those affected.' And, you know, some of went, 'whoah, how do we do that?' But then we went to work, and we've got a great team--some really smart logistics people, and we started down that road and are excited to say that we've blown past that 10 million. We're at 17 million and still counting right now. We have no plans to slow down. As the economy ramps back up, the need will come down and then we'll start to back off. But for now we're still going ahead full steam."
How many states have you been in so far, and I also understand you've been in other countries?
"Yes, yes. I don't know the exact number of states, but I know it's over 40. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 46, but it's definitely over 40 with 17 million meals. And then in other countries, we have ongoing programs in 18 different what we would call focus countries. So, there's 18 countries that we really focus on and have a consistent, permanent program there. And we are feeding 300,000 children every school day in those countries. In additon to that, we've provided right at four million meals, and that's still going to go on. The biggest problem that we've had through that whole process is 'how do we find that food?' because there's a big need for food all across the country, so a lot of the people that would normally donate food to us, they're kind of strapped just creating enough food to meet the demand."
So, how are you finding that food?
"In a variety of ways. We've had new donors that step up and say, 'hey, we know what you're doing. We've heard about these millions of meals you're providing, and we want to be a part of that.' In some cases, some of the providers that normally donate to us are still donating, but they're also selling to us at wholesale prices so that they can keep going, keep functioning, and, you know, keep--I don't mean making a profit in a bad way, but they have to make a profit in order to provide, so we recognize that. And, fortunately, we've had a lot of people come to the table on a cash donation basis that have enabled us to buy these meals. We figure it's costing about $1 per meal for all these meals, so when you're talking 17 million meals, you're also talking $17 million, and that adds up in a hurry."
How is the food distributed?
"I think one of the biggest ways that we're doing the distribution--obviously, we can't have teams in all of these locations at the same time. So, what we're doing is we've got a small fleet of tractor trailers, and we're using those and then we're also doing what's called line hauls where we will hire a trucking company to get a load of food to a certain community. But then, in those communities, we're working primarily with local churches. Churches are active in their communities. They know their communities. They know where the needs are, and they also have a good volunteer base that they can pull together on very short notice. And, we can call churches in different communities and say, 'hey, we can have a load to you by, you know, Tuesday. Can you have a distribution model set up?' And, if they need help defining what that is and how to set that up then we offer that sort of assistance to them. But, they can really do that in such a great way. In most cases, you know, they've got it figured out before the truck gets there. And, we've seen churches wtih lines of cars, you know, two miles long, waiting to drive through the parking lot to pick up that food and those and those supplies. And, the volunteers have been taught how to do it in a safe manner with gloves and masks and social distancing and those kind of things."
It's obvious there's a great need for food right now. Is that what you're seeing, based on the lines you just mentioned?
"Yes. It's kind of mindboggling. You're used to seeing it in certain locations at a time after a disaster, but in this case when you've got, you know, well over 20 million people that are out of work, hopefully temporary. You've got a lot of people--they can sign up for unemployment if they've lost a job, but there's always that two or three week delay in getting that processed and getting that first check, and that sort of thing. And, there are a lot of temporary needs but then there are a lot of people that are already living in poverty, and, you know, maybe they had a minimum wage job and then they lost that, and, so, they're in desparate need. So, we're finding differing degrees of need all across the country."
How long do you see this need continuing?
"I think it really depends on the rate the economy bounces back. There will always be some degree of need because there's always people in every community living in poverty. But the need that we're seeing right now that's, you know, pretty astronomical, I think, you know, hopefully over the next several months that will start to wind down. We've seen a little bit of a downtick now as the economy is opening up, as states are opening up. You know, certain areas are not in nearly the need four to six weeks ago, but I think it's still going to be around for awhile, and we're going to still keep doing it as long as that need is there."
What are some ways Convoy of Hope has helped here in Springfield and southwest Missouri?
"I think there's several ways...thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about it because we don't really blow our own horn here in our own hometown. But, we have been helping several food banks and other feeding organizations in town with food and supplies, trying to help them as we're able to procure the food. We've also worked with several churches, some of the larger churches, some of the smaller churches. Three that I can think of right now: Central Assembly had a Sunday event just a week or two ago. James River Church had one not too long ago. Second Baptist is getting ready to have one in a couple of weeks where they do these drive through distribution lines, and volunteers will line up, you know, appropriate distancing and put food and supplies into the trunks or the back seat of a car or whatever is available. So, we've been reaching out in multiple ways and have delivered multiple tractor trailer loads of food and supplies right here in the greater Springfield area."
If somebody wants to help, how can they do that?
"I think the best way is to go to our website. With all the technology available today, that's still the best way. They can go there, they can read the stories of what we're doing and where we're helping, things like that, and they can also be assured that it's a secure, online donation. We use a service that is very, very good at the security side of it so that their credit card information is not in jeopardy, that sort of thing. And they can make a donation and know that every dollar they donate is going to put one meal in front of someone that really needs it."
How long do you continue to serve the needs of people affected by the coronavirus?
"I think it depends on different areas. Like in the Springfield area that we just talked about, for us it's an ongoing commitment. We provide well over $1 million, sometimes maybe $3 million of supplies to the greater Springfield area every year. So, that's going to be an ongoing that we're not going to stop. It may peak during this time of the coronavirus, but it's going to continue on no matter what. In different areas of the country it's different. We're going to continue as soon as we can start up our community event program. We will start doing that again. Some of your listeners may remember the events that we've had out at the fairground recently where it's designed for low-income people to be able to come and get services and get food and free groceries and things like that. So, as soon as we can start having large groups meet again, we'll start that program back up, and I think variations of this are going to continue long into the future."
Is there anything else you want to add?
"I've got to maybe throw a shout out to some of our Convoy of Hope truck drivers. We have a lot of volunteers that drive our--we have like 16 or 18 tractor trailers that are going all across the country, and I think we only have three or four full-time drivers, so everything else is done by volunteers. And these guys and their wives, in a lot of cases, are amazing. I mean, they may run to California and come back, pick up another load and run to New York and come back, and, you know, talk about 40 some different states, that's a lot of driving and a lot of miles and a lot of diesel fuel. But, these guys and their wives, they've just done a tremendous job...and all the support teams in getting everything out there and getting this product--this food and supplies--into the hands of people that, in most cases, desparately need it."
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