March of the Mayors closes with donated items distributed to local food pantries
By Toni Miles
Long Beach Mayor Tim Pierce (left) poses with students and staff at Long Beach Middle School with hundreds of canned green beans collected at the school for this year’s drive.
More than two-hundred people gathered at the Lyman Community Center on Friday, March 6, working assembly-line style to pack up donated food items for this year’s March of the Mayors initiative hosted by the non-profit Extra Table.
The cities of Long Beach and Pass Christian were among the participating South Mississippi cities in this year’s collection, food “packing party” and distribution to local pantries. Several weeks before the distribution, the City of Long Beach collected donated canned green beans, and the City of Pass Christian collected canned corn for the drive.
In all, more than three thousand boxes of canned donations were packed and distributed to those in need throughout South Mississippi. The event brought together mayors, residents, business owners, employees and non-profit volunteers from more than a dozen participating cities.
The annual March of the Mayors campaign is a month-long effort that challenges municipalities across Mississippi to each collect a designated food item for local food pantries. At the end of the drive, donations from each participating city are brought together at regional packing parties, where volunteers assemble food boxes destined for families in need – and that’s just what happened on March 6.
Reeves Elementary joined other schools in the Long Beach School District collecting donated canned green beans for this year’s March of the Mayors food drive.
Long Beach Mayor Tim Pierce said the turnout and generosity of residents were evident at this year’s packing party. According to Pierce, the City of Long Beach gathered more than a thousand cans of green beans during the collection drive.
Before the packing party, schools in the Long Beach School District were hard at work collecting canned green beans for this year’s drive, efforts that did not go unnoticed by local leaders.
“The City of Long Beach Mississippi would like to extend a huge thank you to the Long Beach School District for helping us collect canned green beans for this year’s March of the Mayors,” said Pierce. “Your generosity and community spirit truly show what makes Long Beach such a special place. Thank you to everyone who donated and helped support families in our community.”
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At the March 6 Lyman event, volunteers sorted the various donated items into coordinated food boxes designed to provide healthy, shelf-stable meals to families across the Gulf Coast. Each participating city’s pantry receives a portion of the packed boxes, ensuring the food collected locally helps feed neighbors within that community.
Organizers say the program reflects a cooperative effort among mayors, local businesses and volunteers across the region. The initiative, launched by Extra Table in 2009 to support food pantries statewide, continues to grow as communities rally together to combat hunger.
