Mass unemployment driving community food distributions

By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

Photography: TOM TRACY | FC

MIAMI | The nation’s sudden leap in unemployment claims is driving demand on community food banks, including Catholic Charities’ child development centers which are being retooled as community food distribution sites. 

On the last day of April, some 150 vehicles and an estimated 200 households stopped by the Catholic Charities food giveaway at Centro Hispano Católico in the Wynwood area. 

The distribution drew families whose children attend the Centro Hispano child development center as well as others from the wider public who were invited to participate. 

“What you see here is a typical food distribution that we are doing on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon at Centro Hispano,” explained Peter Routsis-Arroyo, CEO of Catholic Charities. Similar distributions take place the same days and times at Catholic Charities’ other sites, Notre Dame Child Development Services in Miami and South Dade Child Development Services in Homestead.

“Initially we were serving all of our families from our Head Start and child development programs but because of the greater needs we have opened it up to the greater community and we will continue promoting it at one site every Thursday,” he said. 

Some even received a bonus hot meal courtesy of George’s Miami Beach, a popular Italian restaurant in North Miami Beach which donated 100 meals to Catholic Charities, according to organizers.  

Routsis-Arroyo said he senses a palpable public anxiety wrapped up in fear: both of the unknown, economically speaking, and of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak. 

Most of the families at the drive-up distribution remained in their car as staff and volunteers placed donations of nutritionally balanced food boxes in their cars. 

“Certainly, the impact on the economy is what we are seeing here. There are people here today from whole surrounding area — a little north, south and west of Wynwood,” Routsis-Arroyo said. 

Some of the distributions are stretching to three hours in length in order to accommodate the wider public, according to Gladys Palacios, senior director of Child Development Services for Catholic Charities. 

Her son, professional baseball player Steven Francis "Paco" Rodríguez — who is anxiously waiting for the baseball season to resume — volunteered to assist in the food handout. (See accompanying story).

“They tell me that they need food and that some of them have lost their jobs. We are receiving families from the Little Havana area as well,” Palacios told the Florida Catholic. “Our priority here is to serve whoever needs food.”

Stephanie Reyes, local tour boat guide and mother of four, told local reporters at the food distribution that she was recently laid off from her position and that the state's online unemployment relief portal had thus far not approved her for financial assistance. 

“I will be checking this week to see if there is any progress with the unemployment,” said Reyes, who rode off on her scooter with a box of the foodstuffs.

Florida — which now has among the highest unemployment numbers in the country — has been under heavy criticism for its uneven and sluggish response to the newly unemployed. There are some 30 million unemployed nationally and the number is about 2 million in Florida. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been promising to fix the issues with the unemployment system’s online portal and to speed up the process of new unemployment claims. But many applicants have been telling the media that their applications have been rejected or that they were unable to complete the process. 

As long as the economic situation remains shaky, the Catholic Charities food distributions will provide not only free food but food that is healthy, according to Shalimar Ruggiero, registered nutritionist who oversees the dietary content for six Catholic Charities centers in the region. 

While frontline first responders are taking care of the community’s medical needs, Catholic Charities will be taking care of the children in its programs and their families by making sure they get enough proteins, carbohydrates and a proper fat balance. 

Ruggiero pointed to donations of fruit cups, veggie chips and beef jerky that were among the handouts. Growing children need the benefits of all the food groups and should avoid consuming too much sugar, she added. 

“Two things are happening in the general public wherever children are eating poor diets or getting too much sugar intake: They are not growing and it is (adversely) affecting their brain development and maybe causing hyperactivity,” Ruggiero said. 

She suggested parents dealing with homeschooling can get better behavioral control from their children by watching what they eat.

“We all know that what we eat really affects mood and our state of mind —especially with this age group,” she said. 

She urged parents to avoid making sugary foods their go-to and instead make a sound meal with all the food groups first, then give the children a little treat. “But don’t make sugar the sole basis of their diet because it will not impact only their behavior but their growth as well,” Ruggiero said.

Another Catholic Charities food distribution has been scheduled for Thursday, May 7, from 11 a.m. to noon, at South Dade Child Development Center, located at 28520 S.W. 148 Ave., Leisure City, 33033.

YOU CAN HELP

To assist those in need through the Catholic Charities COVID-19 relief effort visit www.ccadm.org.