Macon Homeless Coalition Chair June O’Neal urged representatives of social service organizations to rest up as she expects agencies to be flooded with requests for food, warm clothing, help with utility bills and holiday gifts this season.
“I think it’s going to be a bleak Christmas,” O’Neal said as she chaired her last coalition meeting before the Economic Opportunity Council’s Carlton Williams assumes the chairmanship in January.
The coalition met less than a day after the federal government shutdown ended late Wednesday night, but ramifications from those 43 days won’t quickly be resolved.
Middle Georgia Community Food Bank CEO Kathy McCollum expects delays in processing new orders for food through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Charitable Food Network.
“There’s going to be some pauses in here, because nobody’s been at work in USDA for several weeks now,” McCollum told the coalition. “So we know that while we’ve had the USDA food coming in here to the food bank during the shutdown, nobody’s initiating those new orders.”
McCollum also uses monetary donations and grant funds to buy grocery items from wholesalers.
She ordered more than a half-million dollars worth of food to stock shelves for October and November. While that’s coming in, a lot more is still on order with delivery dates uncertain due to high demand after the pause in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
“All food banks are in the same position where our resources were low at the time the government shutdown began and the SNAP benefit pause for the month of November got started. So, we are all sort of jockeying for position with our wholesale vendors,” McCollum said.
She did share some positive news. While the Congressionally-approved extension only funds many government operations through Jan. 30, 2026, other bills fully fund some key departments, like the USDA through Fiscal Year 2026 that ends Sept. 30.
USDA funds the monthly SNAP allocations for low-income individuals and families to buy groceries, which means there should not be any threat of future payment disruptions for most of next year.
Macon-Bibb County recently helped replenish the food bank’s bare shelves with $150,000 for food distribution.
McCollum said with monetary donations, they can bulk order items that are in most need.
“What we’re trying to help people understand, if you send us money, we can very quickly turn that into food that we order to fill those gaps that we know we have,” McCollum said. “When that food comes in, whole tractor trailer loads of cut green beans, we’re not having to have somebody sort it out like we have to do after a food drive.”
She’s grateful 13WMAZ is holding “Stuff the Truck” events next week in Macon, Warner Robins, Milledgeville and Dublin, which will help raise awareness as the number of those seeking assistance is growing.
“Martha Bowman collected tons of food (Wednesday) night and $800 for the backpack ministry, because they said they had gotten 296 new referrals in two weeks,” O’Neal said. “So, I don’t think this food scarcity is going to go away quickly, and we certainly want to say thank you to the food bank for their hard work, and a big thank you to Mayor Miller, for getting the money out to everybody.”
The food bank serves 24 counties and assists nonprofit organizations with food distribution, like the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church.
Increasing demand for help
Daybreak homeless day shelter Executive Director Sister Deborah Mallott said recent demand increased by more than 35% at St. Peter Claver.
“They usually serve about 450; they served 700 the other day. So, they didn’t have turkeys for all those people, because they had only counted the people who were coming regularly, but they had chickens for the ones that they didn’t have turkeys for, at least as many as they could,” Mallott said.
Macon Outreach at Mulberry Methodist, Christ Episcopal Church’s Weekend Lunch and Loaves and Fishes serve meals throughout the week, and the Homeless Coalition aims to work together to make sure there is some food available every day.
Mallott cautions against independent providers dropping off food to the people who now camp next to Daybreak on Walnut Street.
“We have banned that group because they’re not supposed to be that close to Daybreak,” she said. “But also their behaviors are not good. They’re not good toward the other homeless people, so they’re kind of a rogue group. Also, we’re really encouraging people not to serve food right there. I mean people are just rolling up, opening their trunks and giving them food right there and it’s sort of feeding the behavior.”
Daybreak staff and volunteers cleared the camp, and the next day, it was trashed again, she said.
“They’re doing it on purpose. I think they’re angry because they got chased (from another camp),” Sister said.
“They’re very few places for them to go now,” O’Neal said.
Because the coalition strives to use each organization’s resources to cover needs across the county, O’Neal encourages the agencies to collaborate with other charities to not duplicate services or allow people to double-dip on gifts for children.
“I just think the holidays are going to be very hard. I think they’re going to be challenges,” O’Neal said. “So try to just stay in touch, because some people, unfortunately, are noted for going place to place to place, and we want to have enough to spread whatever resources we have so as many families as can have some sort of a semblance of a holiday.”
O’Neal, who has retired as executive director of the Mentors Project, said she is getting many requests for coats and warm shoes for children and teenagers.
She warns against needy folks being greedy or there won’t be enough to go around.
“Y’all, this is not the time to get all you can, can all you get and sit on it with a lid on it,” she said. “This is the time to share, and that’s what we’re going to do, the very best we can.”
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
