[ PHOTOSTORY 4: STRUGGLE ] Working to help families in need

 By: Kyle Arnold

The sign above the entrance to Statesboro's food bank. They are a support program that helps people in need of food. 

A sign with their pickup hours. The food bank gives food on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. They do emergency feeds on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

 A few carts lined up for next batch of people coming for a pickup. From this, they usually serve 75 families through Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

Sandra Roziar giving a big smile to the camera. She works at Statesboro's food bank and serves as the manager there. 

A freezer dedicated to the frozen chicken at the food bank. They have designated freezers and refrigerators for about all of the food groups available. 

Two more freezers dedicated to pork and beef. The customers fill out forms that allow them to pick whatever they want/need. 

Charlie Ingram pushing a cart of food, preparing it for the next appointment. "I volunteer here, since I know what it is like to be hungry."

Charlie Ingram putting together the last touches on the cart of food. The carts that have the boxes usually go to the larger families. 

The final product of Ingram's gathering. Statesboro's food bank strives to give families a week's worth of food. 

Jonathan Faircloth confirming the appointment with the customer. He's another worker there at Statesboro's food bank. 

Jada Pollet loading the food into a customer's trunk. Pollet is another volunteer, but she works at Amazon. 

A rack with the sweeter foods. These food items are mostly attained through donations from the community. 

Fruit and canned foods lined up on another rack. For their meal program, Statesboro's food bank aims to keep customers' meals nutritious. 

More groceries that are keep cold in the refrigerators. The food bank does also serve alternatives to people that have allergies or complications. 

Jerry Moffett setting up a cart for a pickup. Moffett is another employee there at the food bank. 

Blaine Raley packing up the boxes and putting them on the rack. Raley volunteers at the food bank as a part of his rehabilitation program. 

A volunteer peeking into a freezer to get a pack of meat. They work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except the weekends. 

A volunteer picking up some cupcakes from the box. They have multiple jobs for the volunteers to do. 

Leon Atkins prepping another cart while the others. He's been working at the food bank for the past seven months. 

Leon, Jada and Blaine talking and relaxing. They get to wind down in between appointments. 

[PHOTOSTORY 4: STRUGGLE] - Injury

 By: Johnathan Hooker

[PHOTOSTORY 4: STRUGGLE] Anything to Save a Penny

By: Matthew Lozynsky

Willie Baker looks under his wife's car prior to doing work on it. Willie tells me that due to a low income, he always works on cars from home.

Willie begins to change the oil in his wife's car. "The drain plug is so [EXPLETIVE] hard to take off on this car." 

Willie curses as he struggles to remove the oil plug from his wife's car. He would get so frustrated with the plug that he decided to "change the oil another day."

Willie grabs his lug wrench and prepares to remove the lug nuts on his wife's car. "This part really kills my forearms."

Willie strains as he tries to remove the lug nuts from the wheel. "Getting an impact gun would have made this so much easier."

Willie rolls the tire to the side as he removes all the lug nuts. He would tell me that the financial struggle that he and his family are currently in began around the time the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Willie examines the bits needed to change his wife's brake pads. "Before the pandemic, I would have paid someone else to do this. I'm just trying to save money any way that I can."

Willie looks at the break pads and rotor after removing the wheel. "Yeah, this pad right here is pretty rough."

Willie fights as he tries to remove the old brake pad. "I used to do my daughter's car too, but her and her fiance are well enough off to go to the car shop for things like this."

Willie bites his tongue as he continues to remove the brake pad. "I was getting paid really well before Covid, but I got laid off because I wasn't an essential worker."

Willie continues to struggle as he tries to wiggle off the brake pad. "My new job is cool and all, but I'm making a lot less than I was before."

Willie looks at the rotor as he prepares to install the new brake pads. "It's really hard to adapt in life when you're making considerably less than what you are used to."

Willie closely examines the new brake pad. "I had some good jobs lined up, but my body is always hurting, so I didn't take them. It really sucks getting old."

Willie smokes a cigarette as he looks in the new box of brake pads. "Smoking is another reason I've had all these financial problems recently. Costs a ton and I had to go to the doctor because of how tight my chest has been here recently."

Willie looks in the box that holds the new brake pads. "Hopefully I won't have to do all this all over again any time soon."

Willie walks around his wife's car to tend to another brake pad on the vehicle. "Hopefully it isn't about to start raining sideways."

Willie adjusts his glasses as he looks at the old brake pads. "Yeah, I couldn't of waited much longer to change these."

Willie unscrews the brake pads from the rotor. "Thankfully I'm pretty smart when it comes to cars, but as I've gotten older and weaker, it's hard to come out here and get a project done quickly."

Willie uses a tool to remove another brake pad from the vehicle. "Hopefully my wife doesn't need to go anywhere today, because I'm about to call it a day."

Willie looks at his bank account prior to working on his wife's vehicle. "By doing all this work from home, we'll be able to save around a hundred dollars that can go towards other stuff."

[PHOTOSTORY 4: STRUGGLE] Feed the Boro

 By: Paul Jarrett

A posted sign directs traffic for the Feed the Boro food drop. These signs help make everything run smoothly. 

Tents and trucks set up at Statesboro High School. This is the location of both rounds of the food drop. 

Volunteer sign in being monitored by Ray Simmons. Ray has been working with Feed the Boro 7 years now. 

Volunteers being told their duties for the next two hours by staff members. They will be bagging/boxing thousands of food and drink items for those that are less fortunate. 

Middle and High School students bagging canned green beans. Even though they are young they understand the importance of events like food drops. 

Athletes from Statesboro high starting an assembly line for their section. They use days like food drops to receive community service credits and they love seeing the smiles from the people they are helping. 

Staff member Greg Baker directs the traffic for the drive thru. Dozens of trucks are driven through the set up to have their beds or trailers loaded up to take items to those who could come in person. 

McKenna Rigdon bagging canned carrots. McKenna tries her best to come to every food drop she can because she knows what it means to those she's helping. 

Lyle Johnson walking back and forth to load up a truck with bags of goods. Lyle says that it is so important to help those in need because you never know exactly what someone is going through. 

Ryan Mitchell, Jake Ledford, and Cody Cook grabbing cases of cans to put in truck beds. Even though it is early on a Saturday they signed up to help because helping others is more important than sleeping in for one day. 

Staff members and volunteers getting packages together as the trucks drive in. Working with the volume of food items present it is important to get every care package ready as quickly as possible so they don't delay the vehicles. 

Lyle helping newcomers and showing them the process. Even an hour after it started people are still showing up to help out those in need. 

Two volunteers talking and smiling while getting work done. While these events are meant to help those that are in need of food items it still provides others that are struggling to go out and interact with others, it's a win win. 

Layla inspecting the products to make sure they are good to go out. Layla is a service dog that is working overtime to help both her owner and those receiving the packages made. 

Conny Moffett and her son Ryan gathering cans of corn for the next round of trucks. As her shirt implies, Conny is here because of her religious beliefs and she has been led to come and help. 

Staff member Patrick Carson wearing a Santa hat while directing the volunteers. Patrick is a fun loving guy who has been helping others through Feed the Boro for almost a decade and he still gets as much joy helping others now as he did when he started. 

Several volunteers are packaging meat specifically and making sure it is safely secured. Given the importance of not letting the meat go bad, Feed the Boro has stationed coolers to house the product before it is ready to be sent out. 

Staff members Tanya and Mary talking about how successful the first drop of the day has been. They love seeing so many people coming to help the cause they care so deeply about. 

Volunteers look on as the last round of trucks for this drop start to come in. They have helped countless lives with their work and will help more by getting certain things ready for the next drop two hours from now. 

As the last of trucks get sent out the staff make sure everything is ready for the next drop. Even though they have two hours before the next volunteers arrive it is important to have it all set up so they can get going right away.