Danyelle Thomas remembers asking God for a car — any car —long as it got her and her two sons to point A and point B.
“I didn’t care if it was a hoopty or whatever,” she said.
Thomas was one of two single mothers presented with a Nissan Sentra on Sunday by i5 City Church in Glen Burnie, part of an outreach that included hundreds of volunteers passing out 100,000 pounds of food.
“This is more than what I could have asked for, this car is literally new,” Thomas said. “I feel blessed.”
The first thing she planned to do was just sit in the car then have a worship session. Then, she plans to find a better job.
“One of my biggest things was I couldn’t hold a job because I couldn’t get the kids to daycare or pick them up on time. Now I can do that,” Thomas said. “Everything that was harder for me has now become easier; something simple as making to a doctor’s appointment.”
Thomas thanked the Revs. Jimmy and Irene Rollins, pastors of I5 Church for the gift. “I love you,” she added.
“We did something massive that shocks them and I believe this will be a turning point for the families that receive these cars,” Irene said.
i5 City Church partnered with Joyce Meyer Ministries in Missouri, Lighthouse Church in Glen Burnie, God’s Pit Crew in Virginia and the Anne Arundel County Food Bank and Food Rescue Baltimore to source and distribute the food handed out on Sunday.
While the demand for hunger relief has plateaued after skyrocketing as layoffs cost thousands of people their jobs, requests for food aid continues to be steady in Annapolis, Glen Burnie, and west county, said Pam Jordan, the new county human services director.
Food giveaways around the county have spread from once or twice each week before the start of the pandemic in March, to seven or more each week. The network distributing the food includes churches, nonprofit groups and individuals.
Justin Schaffner, manager of the Latitude 38 degrees restaurant in Annapolis, put together a network of firefighters, friends and volunteers last week to hand out a tractor-trailer load of milk.
He donated more than 8,000 half-gallons of milk to groups helping homeless, veterans and the hungry across Maryland.
The number of individuals getting help across the county jumped from 150 a month in March to anywhere between 900 and 1,200 each week — a 400% increase, Jordan said.
“I would characterize the relief network as very strong, collaborative and seasoned, just four months into the pandemic,” she said.
Jimmy Rollins knows parts of Glen Burnie are a food desert and made sure he served the community where the church is located.
“We have so many people in need and that are feeling hopeless and lonely, that what better way to get people together than to serve the community?” he said.
People in hundreds of cars showed up on Sunday to receive food in a drive-up distribution system set up in the church parking lot. Rollins was “blown away” by the outcome. People also came to pick up food to deliver groceries for others who couldn’t come on their own.
Rollins decided to give away two cars because he considers it churches’ duty to meet the needs of the community. Like other churches, i5 continues to hold services out of its building because of limits on gatherings put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“We can’t be in the building but we can be building people so let’s give them some cars,” he added.
Hundreds of volunteers worked in shifts Sunday to limit exposure to the sun. Temperatures topped out at 96 degrees with a heat index of 105 degrees.
Anne Arundel County police were in attendance and officers helped give out food to cars lining up, as was County Executive Steuart Pittman.
“The economic victims of this pandemic are our neighbors whose incomes barely cover monthly expenses,” Pittman said. “I am proud of the way that our public servants and our community leaders have stepped up to build a safety net, particularly through food distribution.”
Rollins said he envisions doing this more while partnering with organizations around the area to add pop-up locations.
