CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — During the COVID-19 pandemic, Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi has managed to continue helping those locally with food insecurities. The nonprofit adjusted procedures when the stay-at-home orders became effective across the Coastal Bend and more people called them for help. They began offering curbside pickups food distributions events. Recently, Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi has gone back to walk-up food distributions with appointments.
The executive director for Catholic Charities, Warren Phipps, says the decision came after seeing a drop in the number of people showing up for drive-through food distributions.
"Initially we were doing drive through based on the volume but now the volume is less than a little bit so now we just do a walk-up," said Phipps.
Though the organization saw a decrease, they are prepared to continue helping more people as the number of job losses climb throughout the are.
"It initially slowed down about Easter...right after Easter when the IRS checks started being released but we're seeing it slowly creep back up based on unemployment," said Phipps, "Hopefully, the need won't grow too much as people get back to jobs."
Anyone needing help with groceries or paying rent or utilitity bills can call Catholic Charities at (361) 929-0987. They say an evaluation will be done right over the phone to provide help as quicly as possible. And families can call for help once a month now as opposed to prior procedures of once a year.
The Emergency Food Pantry is open Monday through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m by appointment only. Financial assistance services are available Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.