Mobile sites offer vaccination and nourishment for rural neighbors
September 17, 2021
As part of a mission to increase the COVID-19 vaccination rate as well as reduce food insecurity in areas of high vaccine hesitancy, the Food Bank of Delaware joined a collaborative effort to encourage vaccination, teaming up with the state Division of Public Health and the Delaware Air and Army National Guard.
On Thursday, at the entrance to Seaford Mobile Gardens, a sprawling community just east of US 13, residents could register to receive a vaccination — either Johnson & Johnson or Pfizer – and pick up food for their household from our nearby pop-up mobile pantry.
One of those was Toni, a long-time resident. She walked down to the mobile vaccination site to fill out the needed paperwork for her handicapped husband and his live-in caregiver. Because her husband is confined to a hospital bed set up in the living room of her single-wide mobile home, two National Guard members walked back to administer their shots.
Then she drove back to the Food Bank’s refrigerated truck to pick up her groceries. Toni said that the vaccination offered some peace of mind. “In October, we’re going to a Renaissance Faire in North Carolina, and we’re going to renew our vows,” she said.
Although not everyone who stopped by the mobile pantry chose to be vaccinated, other residents walked over, completed the appropriate paperwork, and stepped inside a separate mobile facility to get a “shot in the arm” administered by a member of the National Guard’s medical squad.
“We are proud to partner with the Delaware Division of Public Health on this important endeavor,” noted President and CEO Cathy Kanefsky. “We all share a responsibility in getting through this pandemic and by working together, we can do just that,” Kanefsky noted, “We at the Food Bank of Delaware recognize the sacred trust we have with those we serve and sharing important information about the benefits of vaccination and helping them get the shot is something we take very seriously.”
Additional mobile vaccination sites paired with a Food Bank mobile pantry are scheduled:
Sept. 20, 2021 – Laurel Village – 10159 Palmetto Street, Laurel, DE 19956
Sept. 22, 2021 – Greenside Manor – 504 Cypress Drive, Seaford, DE 19973
Sept. 24, 2021 – Laurel Church of the Nazarene – 100 Walnut Drive, Laurel, DE 19956
Oct. 9, 2021 – Delaware State University – 3931 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE 19808
All begin at 11 a.m.
Visit www.fbd.org to learn more about the Food Bank of Delaware’s programs and services.
