LEXINGTON, S.C. — One crisis ministry in Lexington will remain open during the coronavirus situation to make sure the community is being served and taken care of.
Mission Lexington has been serving the community since 1978. According to their website, they help meet 30,000 needs in the community each year.
Many people come to the crisis ministry for needs such as food or going to their thrift store.
While Mission Lexington continues to monitor the impacts of the coronavirus, they've implemented new policies so they can continue to serve Lexington.
Robin Bowers, the Executive Director, says they're keeping an eye on the coronavirus.
"Right now Mission Lexington is open with very limited resources. We've got our store closed, our social services is closed but are food pantry and our donations centers are now open," said Bowers.
Mission Lexington is not sure how long their social services office will be closed. Their thrift store will be closed until at least March 31st. They're also adhering to federal, state, and local government mandates.
Any person who has on Mission Lexington's monthly food program or who needs emergency food are able to get what they need by driving to the back of the building.
At this time, no one is allowed inside of the building except those who work at Mission Lexington. The crisis ministry has bags prepacked for folks when they drive up. All folks who are picking up food need is an ID.
As a precaution, the group has continued to clean the food pantry and workers are wearing gloves.
Starting Wednesday, volunteers will not be allowed to help at the facility. Officials say a lot of the volunteers they have are elderly and they do not want to put them at risk.
"It's a little bit less in supply because we want to make sure that our supplies last because we're really not certain of our supply chains quite yet," explained Bowers. "We don't know that we're going to continue to be able to get things at the level at which we're getting them now so we want to make sure that we can spread this out over several weeks."
The crisis ministry plans to be open from 10 am until 4 pm through the end of this week but they will continue to announce changes that may come their way.
The executive directors says it was important for them to be open to help the community.
"We're doing God's work every day and we're trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus and He would want us to feed people," said Bowers. "We're making sure that particular resource is available."
With people buying in bulk at grocery stores around the Midlands, Bowers says it's been difficult for some folks to find what they need.
"With our elderly population, our military population that we serve and our disability population that we serve, we just want to make sure we can take care of them because obviously they're going to be probably the most highly at risk and the ones who are going to have to stay home the longest," said Bowers.
Mission Lexington says they're still in need of donations so they can continue to help serve the community. They're hoping some churches may be able to accept donations on their behalf if their hours change at the facility.
The group needs household goods, cleaning supplies, and other food items. They do not green beans or corn at this time. Pet food would be appreciated as well.
Mission Lexington says they are continuing to pray for the community as everyone goes through the coronavirus situation.