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March of the Mayors: On a mission to feed locals

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It’s known as “Mississippi’s largest food box packing party,” but the annual March of the Mayors food drive, collection and distribution is serious business for hundreds of South Mississippians struggling to put food on the table, especially now, with record-high food and gasoline prices.

“It’s important for our community,” said Mississippi Power employee James Dobson, who was among the two hundred volunteers on hand for the April 1 food donation packing party at the Lyman Community Center in Gulfport. “Right now, with the rising food prices and other issues in this world, we want to make sure we are at least feeding our people, taking care of our community.”

This year marks the Second Annual Coastal March of the Mayors, headed up by the non-profit Extra Table.

“It’s bigger and better again this year. We are so excited. We’ve grown. We have eleven mayors participating, eleven cities and thirteen food pantries benefitting,” said Martha Allen, executive director of Extra Table, the non-profit organization that hosts the event each year. The Hattiesburg-based group works year-round to provide new, healthy and shelf-stable food to be delivered monthly to food pantries or soup kitchens throughout the state.

On this day, though, hundreds of volunteers from across the Coast pitched in to pack up thousands of boxes of food donations, after each of the eleven cities spent the month of March collecting their assigned food item.

“The City of Long Beach brought in our good, green veggies - green beans - for us,” Allen said. “We are so appreciative of that. It all goes toward the 2,493 boxes we have packed. We are extremely grateful for the support we have gotten from across the Coast.”

This is the second year the City of Long Beach has participated in the event. According to Jenny Levens, the community affairs director for the City of Long Beach, the Friendly City collected more than 1,200 cans of green beans this year, with Harper McCaughan Elementary School’s BETA Club rounding up more than 900 cans for this year’s drive.

Long Beach resident and Mississippi Power employee Lynette Brown was among those helping out with this labor of love.

“This helps feed not only the community, but it also helps take care of children who don’t have meals when they get home,” said Brown. “I have a son, and I want to make sure every child gets fed.”

“It’s a one-Coast cause, because each box has a piece of every city across the Coast. It’s a really special event where we all come together to serve.”

All of the food collected on the Coast stayed on the Coast, going directly to Extra Table’s partner food pantries, including the Long Beach Food Pantry.

For more information, visit extratable.org.