Food for the body and soul

The stories of people struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic — people losing their jobs and homes, their funds stretched to the limit and families going without food and medicine — pushed Port resident Priscilla Woods into action.

On Wednesday and Saturday, Oct. 14 and 17, she and her husband Jeremy set tables of food out in front of their Milwaukee Street home, inviting people to take what they needed.

Their contributions were supplemented by food dropped off by friends, neighbors and complete strangers who were inspired by the couple’s goodwill.

“Almost everything was taken,” Woods said, adding she took the remaining items to the Port Food Pantry this week.

The gesture was appreciated, she said. A number of people left notes in her door and mailbox.

Woods noted one woman came to pick up food as she was leaving her home.

“She started crying and told me how much this meant,” Woods said. “I started crying. I wanted to give her a hug, but with Covid I couldn’t.”

But it’s not just the gratitude of those receiving the food that’s inspiring Woods — it’s the many people who also contributed items to give to others.

After she posted news of the food distribution on Facebook, people sent her messages asking if they could contribute items and dropping them at her doorstep.  

“The community love is amazing,” Woods said. “That’s what we need right now.”

Woods said she began the food distribution effort after she heard about the many people who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic and were having difficulty affording food and mortgage and rent payments.

“It started to wear on me,” said Woods, a high school art teacher at University School of Milwaukee in whose husband is a heating, ventilating and air conditioning technician for Professional Services.

“We’re lucky. We both kept our jobs. Even though we’re just working people, it seemed like we have so much more than some other people.”

So in spring she bought 25 pizzas and set them out, posting on Facebook that anyone who wanted them could have them.

“All kids like pizza,” she said. “Kids shouldn’t go hungry — no one should go hungry.”

The response, Woods said, “made me feel good for a while. It got me out of my funk.”

But as Covid has lingered, she started to feel the stress again and decided to hold another distribution, this one of basic foods. She and her husband spent $400 and bought staples, everything from bread and macaroni and cheese to Cheerios and vegetables.

And given the fact that Covid is expected to go on for a while, she said, this won’t be their last food distribution. The next one will likely be in winter, “when it starts getting tough again,” she said.

Her husband’s employer has pledged to contribute funds for that drive, she said, and many other people have indicated a willingness to help, too.

“I think everyone is doing their own thing,” she said. “I want to keep doing something. We’ve all got to do our part.”