Fredericksburg Parent

34 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • Stories of Strength Special Issue Everybody Came Together INTERVIEWED BY EMILY FREEHLING When the Kenmore Club—a program of the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board— was forced to close its in-person operations offering psychosocial rehabilitation to individuals with persistent mental illness due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then-director Amy Jindra at first thought it was a brief pause in normal operations. But from that mid-March day on, as shutdowns across the state and nation became longer-term, Jindra realized that the pandemic would impact not only the mental health needs of her clients, but also their basic need for sustenance. Rappahannock Area Community Services Board Under normal operations, the Kenmore Club provides breakfast and lunch to its community mem- bers—two meals that would not be served amid the shutdown. This was just one example of the impact that the shutdown of schools, businesses, nonprofits and other groups would have on food access for people in need. As she looked around the community in spring 2020, Jindra learned that food banks were experienc- ing shortages, and that Micah Ecumenical Ministries was having to curtail its meals—a move that would impact many of Kenmore Club's downtown members. "All of a sudden, three meals a day are gone," she said. By late March, it was clear that business as usual wasn't going to resume any time soon. The Kenmore Club began packing lunches out of its commercial kitchen and driving them to members throughout RACSB is proud of the community collaboration that got food to those who needed it during the pandemic Planning District 16, which includes Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, Stafford, Caroline and King George counties. "It meant almost half of our workday was dropping food off," she said. Other community groups, such as the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank and S.E.R.V.E. in Stafford County, began to report shortages and a downturn in donations. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jindra had heard that the church had a supply of food from its farms and dairies that it was making available to groups around the country in need. She contacted her bishop and asked if it would be possible to get donations for the Fredericksburg area. "Within a week, I was being con- tacted by our church's distribution center, and they told me they could bring 37,000 pounds of canned goods," Jindra said. As she quickly learned, it takes a team effort to distribute that much food to those who need it.

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