When Brothers gave out the first few boxes of free food to drive-ups last year in April, shortly after the COVID pandemic was declared, they figured the chapter would do one or two more giveaways and in a few weeks the battle with COVID would be over. As members of The Super Chapter stood outside in the vast parking lot at Suitland High School on Saturday, April 17 loading cars with yet again food boxes, they could not believe a year later, here they were in the same spot. And the need was as great as ever.
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| Partners pose for photo during a break |
Gamma Pi decided to mark the one-year anniversary of the COVID food giveaways it has been leading throughout Prince George's County by returning to the original location and giving out yet more food as the pandemic raged into its second year. The one difference this time was the promise of newly distributed vaccines.
The Brothers distributed more than 500 food packages that are designed to feed a family of four. As always at these events, cars were lined up early outside the gate before the start time of 11 a.m. Shortly after 1 p.m. the food was all gone. A year later, the need has not subsided as many people remain out of work due to the impact that the highly contagious virus has had on many industries, such as hospitality and retail.
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| Cars are lined up an hour before the opening |
"This was not a celebration but a commemoration," Gamma Pi Basileus Steven Walls told WTOP radio reporter Valerie Bonk in a taped phone interview from the Suitland site. The chapter food drive attracted the attention of local media. In addition to WTOP radio, Fox 5 NEs covered the food drive and ran a feature story on its 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts later that evening.
Gamma Pi led food drives that fed more than 60,000 families in 2020.
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| Screenshot from the Fox5 D.C. news story on Gamma Pi |
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