Chattanooga Community Kitchen's pantry running low amid coronavirus crisis

Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Kenneth Neville lets Mike Pettross, a photo technician with the Chattanooga Police Department's crime scene investigations department, know what toppings he wants on his chili during a Battle of the Badges chili cook-off at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen Tuesday, January 29, 2019.
Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Kenneth Neville lets Mike Pettross, a photo technician with the Chattanooga Police Department's crime scene investigations department, know what toppings he wants on his chili during a Battle of the Badges chili cook-off at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen Tuesday, January 29, 2019.

Normally, Chattanooga Community Kitchen Chief Financial Officer Vanessa Blevins spends her workdays counting beans, not loaves of bread, but these are hardly normal times as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

"I've spent the last four and a half days searching for bread," she said.

"We need 25 loaves a day or 175 a week and I'm calling restaurants, bread truck drivers, the companies that make bread and nobody has it. They are stressed and stretched thin."

A local bread retail outlet has been stockpiling any extras it has from any slower-than-usual sales day and will be delivering some in the coming days, but beyond that, she isn't sure where the much-needed supply will come from.

The Community Kitchen serves about 700 takeout-only meals a day at its campus on 11th Street, and is now delivering about 160 more each day to homeless people sheltering in camps nearby, according to Chief Executive Director Jens Christensen.

Sandwiches are easy to make, package and deliver. He said the organization also needs hand sanitizer, toilet paper and sandwich bags.

"I don't know why those are in short supply," he said of the bags.

"We also need nitrile gloves. We go through a lot of those during our food prep, and the price, which was already high, has doubled. That's another problem. Prices have gone up."

Blevins said she went to buys sandwich bags at Sam's and discovered she could buy only six boxes.

Christensen said the kitchen is also in need of clothing, "So if anyone is at home cleaning out their closets, we need socks and underwear, shoes and men's pants. New socks and underwear, preferably."

Normally, people in need of clothing would be able to enter the facility and shop, but with the coronavirus they now must make a verbal order through a glass partition and a volunteer will go and find the item.

"Shoes are really important right now because the people on the streets have nowhere to go," Christensen said. "The parks are closed, the library is closed. You can't shelter in place if you don't have a place to shelter."

Many area homeless people are staying in tents and under tarps in camps around town, and the kitchen has been using the Salvation Army's canteen truck to deliver food and supplies and information on ways to stay safe, Christensen said. He added that the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department Homeless Health Care Center has also been providing much-needed information and services to those in need.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.

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