In the Keys: Great needs, an even greater response

By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

KEY WEST | Residents of Key West, hard-hit by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, this week distributed 15 tons of food to 860 families in a three-hour span. The rector of the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea, where the food distribution took place, said he has never seen anything like it.

“I’ve never seen such need in my life, but I’ve never seen such response,” said Father John Baker of the April 21 distribution, which takes place every Tuesday between 1 and 4 p.m.

The basilica is just one of several food distribution sites set up throughout the Florida Keys in response to the pandemic. But the infrastructure had been created over the past few years by the basilica-affiliated SOS (Star of the Sea) Foundation. The now independent non-profit grew out of St. Mary Star of the Sea’s outreach mission on Stock Island and now distributes two million pounds of food each year to 20 agencies and sites throughout the Keys. One of them is the SOS food pantry on Stock Island and another is the food pantry at St. Justin Martyr Church in Key Largo.

“Had the infrastructure (created by SOS) not been in place, we could not have responded to the need at this time,” Father Baker said.

He noted that over 60 percent of the Keys population working in the service industry is now unemployed. “There’s no income and there’s no food,” the priest said.

The SOS Foundation tapped into food sources by working with its partners, the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition, the United Way, the Ocean Reef Foundation, Farm Share and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, which sent down a truckload of 24 pallets of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) for those who do not have cooking facilities.

The City of Key West also got involved, setting up the distribution sites, and Key West police and Monroe County sheriffs provided traffic guidance and control.

“Everyone’s working together,” Father Baker said, calling that a hallmark of the Keys. “There’s always been a tradition of helping. We’re keys — little islands. That’s just always been that way here.”

In fact, the owner of the Domino’s Pizza franchise in the Keys donated 30 boxes of pizza for the volunteers who served at the basilica site and has been doing the same at every food distribution site in the county, Father Baker said.

The Keys Overnight Temporary Shelter (KOTS) is now open 24 hours a day, providing breakfast, lunch and dinner, cooked onsite, to Monroe County residents in need of housing. Breakfast is served by workers with SHAL — the Southernmost Homeless Assistance League — who staff the shelter; lunch is prepared onsite by the SOS Foundation’s Community Kitchen; and dinner is provided by volunteers from the basilica’s Martha Ministry.

“This is so well-organized,” Father Baker said, referring once again to the great need and great response that have arisen from the pandemic. “It’s heart-breaking and it’s heart-warming.”