'Just have to keep the faith.' Volunteers help out Springfield neighbors with giveaways

After three days without power at her east side home in Springfield, Minerva Bolden was in her pickup in a long but briskly moving line of vehicles at Plumbers, Steamfitters & HVACR Local 137 on East Cook Street picking up lunches, bottled water, toiletry products and cleaning supplies.

All of Bolden's immediate family members are in the same boat, victims of Thursday's brief but intense storm that knocked out power to tens of thousands of City Water, Light & Power and Ameren customers, sheered off tree limbs and branches and snuffed traffic signals.

"I'm holding on," Bolden admitted. "You can't do nothing but hold on. Just have to keep the faith."

More: American Red Cross, Central Illinois Foodbank stepping up

Volunteers handed out 1,500 lunches Sunday at the event organized by the American Red Cross and Meridian, with food and items donated by Hy-Vee and Target.

Meridian provides government-based health plans--Medicare, Medicaid, and the Health Insurance Marketplace--in three different states, including Illinois, and covers about 20,000 people in Sangamon County, said Jeffrey Isbell, a representative from Vienna, Ill.

Dawn Morris, the executive director of the South Central Illinois Chapter of the Red Cross said volunteers were taking an additional 200 lunches into neighborhoods still without power.

Further down on Cook Street, some 600 people were served at a food giveaway organized by the Central Illinois Foodbank, which itself was without power, said executive director Pam Molitoris.

The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at the Springfield Branch NAACP, 801 S. 11th St., where it was also providing meals.

Springfield Clinic was covering laundry costs for those without power at All In One Laundry Center & Services, 801 S. Grand Avenue E. through Tuesday.

Like Bolden, Rebecca Carter, who lives in Southern View, was still without power.

Holed up with her son, her father and older brother and helping some neighbors, Carter said she bought a generator yesterday.

"It's like an outdoor camping experience," Carter said. "It's definitely hot during the day. Fans would be nice."

Carter was out on Dirksen Parkway Thursday when the storm rumbled in and watched as a number of power lines toppled. The storm blew out the back glass to her Jeep and a tree fell on her garage.

"There are people way less fortunate (than me), people who have trees in their homes," Carter admitted.

Rose Myers of Springfield was picking up lunches and supplies for her son and his family, who lost their home on the north side of Chatham to the storm.

"He's going to have to move win with us for about a month until they can find something," Myers said. "We're helping him as much as we can, but they have a family of five and they have three dogs."

Myers said she was "thankful" for the giveaway.

"This is awesome. I don't know what we would do," she said.

Among those volunteering Sunday was Mayor Misty Buscher, who had been at the hall since 8 a.m. Buscher was joined by a number of other city directors, State Sen. Doris Turner, Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley, Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory, former Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso and members of the Lanphier and Southeast basketball teams.

"Not everybody here volunteering has power themselves, so it's very heartwarming to see people who are giving back," she said.

"Springfield should be proud. This is a community serving a community and people are showing up to help those in need," Morris added.

Morris said it was possible that another food giveaway could be in the offing. The agency also may be turning its attention to Chatham later.

"The Red Cross is all about helping those in need," she said. "If people are struggling, we're here to help. We'll sit with our city officials and community partner and pay attention to the local power outages and needs and assess it from there."

Molitoris said the foodbank distributed produce, bakery items, pork, frozen dinners and some non-perishable items Sunday.

"The food is staying at temperature, so we're very fortunate," Molitoris said. "It's safe. The city has us on its radar to get (power back). We're not at risk of losing any food over the next couple of days. We're working on backup plans in the event the building gets too warm."

Some neighbors without power who came to get food ended up volunteering, Molitoris said.

"To me, that's what it's all about," she added. "It says a lot. This is a good community and whenever we've asked, people step forward and it didn't take many asks. I'm very proud of the staff and volunteers. They did a fantastic job."

Next steps

Buscher said she has talked to Gov. JB Pritzker and Deputy Gov. Andy Manar about the situation in Springfield.

The Illinois Department of Transportation has joined Office of Public Works crews with debris pickup, she said.

"The State of Illinois and Gov. Pritzker and (the Illinois Emergency Management Agency) have been good friends to the city," Buscher said.

Because of the breadth of the problem statewide, Buscher admitted, CWLP has had to call in mutual aid crews from New Jersey and Indiana.

Buscher, who was out with the volunteer Laborers' Disaster Response Team late Thursday night, downplayed comments that the power outages were mostly relegated to one side of Springfield.

"Look at the outage map. It is everywhere," she said.

Buscher said earlier Sunday she was still contemplating extending the city's state of emergency declaration.

Contact Steven Spearie: (217) 622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Red Cross and Central Illinois Foodbank had food distributions