Newhallville Pantry Feeds Hundreds Of Neighbors, Many Newly ​“On The Edge”

Caleb Davis would not normally rely on a food pantry to keep his shelves at home stocked. These are not normal times.

On Thursday, Davis found himself among the hundreds of people who stopped by Argyle Street to pick up a bag of food from the Believe In Me Empowerment Corporation (BIMEC).

Davis worked as a teaching assistant helping children with autism at the YMCA on Howe Street. The pandemic has put him out of a job.

“I work for 13 years, and now I have to come to a food bank,” he said as he stood in line waiting to pick up his bag.

Newhallville and Dixwell residents showed up by foot and by car to pick up boxes and bags of donated food Thursday.

BIMEC would usually hold its food pantry on the third Thursday of the month. This week was the organization’s second pantry of the month, as the demand for food grows amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Volunteers prepared 300 boxes of food to load into cars, each with enough food for five meals. They prepared 100 blue ​“BIMEC” bags for walkers.

The line snaked around the corner from the Dixwell Avenue entrance to BIMEC, where volunteers took names and handed out bags, onto Argyle Street.

In the street, next to those on foot, cars were backed up to Shelton Avenue. In the middle of the Argyle Street block, a group of volunteers from Saint Matthews Unison Free Will church, a stone’s throw from BIMEC, hauled ​“U‑Haul” boxes of peanut butter, canned vegetables, and other goods into the trunks and back seats of cars.

After a few minutes, they got help. Mayor Justin Elicker (pictured above, center) walked down Argyle from the corner with Dixwell, where he had given a short press conference for a few television cameras, along with Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Steve Winter (above, left). They greeted the people waiting in line and then picked up boxes and began loading them into the trunks of cars.

Although the group from St. Matthews could have handled the boxes without the mayor’s extra pair of arms, the assistance was appreciated.

“It boosts us up,” said Roger X as he walked away from the pantry with a blue ​“BIMEC” bag, gesturing over his shoulder to where Elicker was standing. Having the mayor show up gives people a little hope because it shows he cares, X said.

X (pictured) said he is barely scraping by. He’s a mechanic; he hasn’t been able to work since the pandemic hit. He said he has three kids to feed; he can’t get unemployment insurance.

“I can’t get evicted, but I’m on the edge of …” he trailed off. ​“Ain’t nothing you can do but hunker down.”

Luckily there are people like those at the BIMEC pantry who are helping hold people up, he said.

Olga Lacano and Fanny Orellano work in a nail salon. So, with salons closed as part of the governor’s effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, they have no income.

“Like this,” said Lacano, shrugging and looking down at the bag she was carrying when asked how she makes ends meet. ​“Don’t have money for rent … nothing.”

The lines of cars and people on foot began to shrink after about 20 minutes. In the lull, suddenly there were more volunteers than there were clients to feed.

After a minute or so without any cars, a driver pulled up to the tables laden with U‑Haul boxes on Argyle street. Music pumped out of the car’s open window.

Minister Diane Holmes of St. Matthews started to dance, first with just her head, then moving down to her shoulders, then with her whole body. Marietta King, Stephanie Roberts, and Erma Smith laughed. One pretended to pour lemonade over her to ​“bring her back” to reality.

BIMEC Executive Director James Walker had asked the church if anyone could come volunteer, said King. St. Matthews was just one church that had sent volunteers. Volunteers from Varick Memorial AME Zion Church were handing out bags to people on foot about 100 feet away.

“With this Covid going on, it just proves that the church is not inside the four walls,” said King. ​“It’s outside.”