PETAL, Miss.—Families who receive monthly food assistance from the Petal Children’s Task Force will be eligible for Thanksgiving food boxes up to Nov. 12 as the nonprofit continues to serve more than 750 families each month. 

Each Tuesday and Thursday from Oct. 22 to Nov. 12, the Task Force will provide a total of 350 boxes to families in need.  

The holiday boxes will include turkey, yams, flour, sugar, cornmeal and stuffing, along with regular groceries. Executive Director Demaris Lee said recipients must already qualify for the task force’s monthly food-assistance program and sign up separately for a Thanksgiving box. 

Cardboard boxes filled with groceries sit on rows of shopping carts inside a food pantry lined with stocked shelves.
The Petal Children’s Task Force distributes 50 Thanksgiving food boxes daily to eligible families on Tuesdays and Thursdays through Nov. 12, 2026. RHCJC Photo by Alexa Hatten

Residents seeking regular assistance can visit the pantry at 314 S. George St. in Petal from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Applicants need two pieces of current mail and a photo ID. Eligibility is based on household size and income. 

For Crystal Dye, who lives on Social Security, the pantry has been a regular source of food for about two years. 

“I don’t get food stamps. I don’t get anything. This is all I get,” Dye said. “They help me tremendously.” 

Her experience reflects a broader need in Forrest County, where 20% of residents experienced food insecurity in 2022, according to Feeding America. 

Beyond the holiday distribution, eligible households can receive a box of meat and dry goods every 30 days and return weekly for bread and produce when available. 

Lee said the task force also provides weekly food bags and monthly hygiene supplies to more than 200 people experiencing homelessness. The pantry distributes 100 hot lunches daily through Christian Services, with no eligibility requirements. 

A woman with short gray hair wearing a pastel tie-dye shirt stands in front of wooden shelves stocked with jars of peanut butter and other groceries.
“You’re doing something so good for so many people that need it,” Glenda Bailey, a volunteer with the Petal Children’s Task Force, said. RHCJC Photo by Alexa Hatten

Meeting those needs depends partly on donations from local businesses, churches, schools and residents. Lee said canned goods and hygiene products are among the pantry’s most-needed items, including green beans, macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles. 

About 40 volunteers help keep the pantry operating, with six to eight typically needed each day to stock shelves and distribute food. 

Glenda Bailey, who has volunteered with the task force for three months, said she began looking for a way to give back after her mother died in April. She approached Lee about volunteering and started stacking bread that same day. 

“It feels like I’m giving something back,” Bailey said. 

Residents interested in donating food or hygiene supplies can visit the task force.

This article first appeared on RHCJC and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Sami, a native of Mobile, Alabama, and a recent graduate of Jones College, will enroll at The University of Southern Mississippi as a digital journalism major in fall 2025.

The Roy Howard Community Journalism Center, housed at The University of Southern Mississippi, is dedicated to enhancing the media landscape in southeast Mississippi by prioritizing impactful, issue-oriented, and people-centered reporting.

In addition to providing original reporting, we also aim to improve media literacy efforts among the citizens of southeast Mississippi. To that end, we host free, public media literacy trainings and awareness events. We also operate a “What is True?” service, where the public can submit disinformation and misinformation questions—through a special hotline, web form, or an email address—for us to research, investigate, and answer.