12/18/2023
“My calling is to do what I can for the people,” Rosemary A. Rogers said.
Rosemary works hard to source healthy food for her community. She is the director of the Moffett Manner food pantry in Pascagoula, Mississippi, a partner agency of Feeding the Gulf Coast.
“When they come, they have tears in their eyes,” she said. Sometimes, they tell her, “I didn’t know where I was going to get food to feed my children.”
Rosemary sees a lot of need in her community, and she knows firsthand how difficult it can be to cover household expenses.
She has a disability and is raising one of her grandchildren by herself. She was turned down for financial assistance from the electric company because she makes too much money, she was told.
But after paying for her mortgage, utility bills, and car loan, “sometimes I don’t have money to put gas in my car,” she said.
When she applied for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, “they said I didn’t qualify,” she said, “just being two people in my household.”
Because she intimately understands the needs of her community, she can provide the most beneficial resources.
“I love to help people, and I want to see this thing go farther,” she said.
She wants to create a program that will help her neighbors with their bills. “I want to be able to help people pay their rent, help people pay their light bill,” she said. And because people can’t buy paper towels, toilet paper, dish detergent, or cleaning products with SNAP funds, she offers those goods to people who visit the pantry.
She also hopes to expand her pantry so that it’s open five days a week.
After all, “what I’m striving to do with Moffett Manner is to be able to help people.”
“My motivation, what makes me come out here, is that I know my clients,” she said. “They appreciate what I do. They appreciate me. And even if they didn't appreciate me, I'm still going to do it.”