Fort Worth church helps hardest-hit communities during the COVID-19 pandemic
In less than an hour-an-a-half, 500 families were provided with a free week’s supply of fruits and vegetables Thursday at the parking lot of Great Commission Baptist Church in South Fort Worth. Nearly every family was Latino or Black.
Terrence Howard, a reverend at the church, said they teamed up with World Relief North Texas, a nonprofit Christian organization that helps immigrants and refugees, to set up the drive-up food pantry because their community was in need.
“This pandemic has taken a toll on our neighbors and families,” Howard said. “You’d be surprised, but when a family is struggling to make ends meet, they’ll pay the bills and the rent but food is often the last thing they’ll buy.”
About 3-in-4 Latino households say the pandemic has caused serious financial problems, according to a recent study by NPR, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Many of those surveyed in the study say they have depleted their savings and are having major problems paying for basic costs of living, including food, rent and medical care.
Because Latino, Black, and Native American people are also at a higher risk of getting sick and dying of COVID-19, experts say these communities are being hit twice by the pandemic.
Not in this together
Angelica Ledezma said that if it wasn’t for the food she’s been collecting from the church, her family would not be able to pay their bills. She’s takes care of her three school-aged children at home while her husband works at Tyson Foods Inc., but his hours have recently been cut.
“We’ve spent all our savings since the pandemic hit,” Ledezma said in Spanish. “Thankfully we’ve managed to stay healthy.”
“We pray this pandemic is over soon,” she added. “I’m not sure if we can make it much longer.”
Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the national programs implemented early on during the pandemic that were meant to help families like the Ledezmas have not worked.
“Many are literally drowning,” he said earlier this week during a webinar hosted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation titled “How COVID-19 Has Disproportionately Upended the Daily Lives of Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans.”
“There was a moment that all these public interest ads said that we’re all in this together,” Blendon said. “And if you look at the impact on people’s lives and financial problems, that’s not correct. At the moment we are not in this together.”
A large majority of Latino households — 72% — said they’re facing serious financial problems due to the pandemic, compared to 60% of Black households and 55% of Native American households. Asian and white households report facing the same issue at drastically lower rates, 37 and 36% respectively.
More than 6-in-10 (63%) adults in Latino households reported either job losses, furloughs or reductions in their wages and work hours, according to the study co-authored by Blendon.
“This community is hit twice,” Blendon said. “Once by the disease and secondly, they don’t have the financial resources to get through this unless there is something else that is really put in place as a life raft to get through these next months.”
As of Sept. 17, at least 27% of all reported COVID-19 cases in Tarrant County were Hispanics, compared to 19% white. About 39% of cases did not report race or ethnicity.
The Rev. Howard from Great Commission Baptist Church said in the next few months they plan to expand their drive-up pantry to provide free fruits and vegetables to some 500 additional families.
“Nobody should have to worry about not having something to eat,” Howard said. “This food means one less burden for these families.”
