ELIZABETHTOWN — They are usually seen around this area during hurricanes and times of great uncertainty, but this time they have come to help with feeding the children of Bladen County.

For one member of the Army North Carolina National Guard group assigned here, this is one of the most memorable things she has done.

“I deployed with the unit overseas to Iraq and Kuwait, but doing this for the community, and in our own country, being able to support all the civilians that need help, that has meant more to me than what I did on deployment,” Spc. Brook Cohen said.

For her it’s been about helping the people in North Carolina.

“It’s being able to see all the kids, and how polite they are, and how good they are doing just because of everything that we have been able to provide,” Cohen said. “It means a lot to me, a lot more, than anything else that I have done in my career.”

Bladen County Schools have been feeding children since school changed to remote learning March 16. At first it was to be two weeks, then extended to May 15, and now will last through the academic calendar year.

The Guard was activated to help out.

“Overall I feel like I have come to learn about myself and how I can help others, put others before yourself,” Spc. Alexis Tovar said. “It’s something that I had already known to do, but to actually put it on outside of the Army, because I used to be active duty.”

Tovar said that this has been a different experience for him.

“To be in the National Guard, and get activated to do something like this and you see what you do impact your community, it takes you to a whole, another level of being appreciative.

“So honestly on a very spiritual level I have grown.”

Access to food for many students in Bladen County is a challenge. It has long been a priority for Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor.

“This has been a learning experience,” said Melinda Gainey, cafeteria manager at Elizabethtown Middle School. “It’s been a lot, but at the same time it’s been rewarding, because there are students that I know, and not necessarily personally, that don’t have access to food.

“Being able to take it out to those kids, that’s what’s keeping me going. Because I know that they are getting what they need.”

She’s also feeding off the energy the Guard has brought.

”Working with them has been a joy,” Gainey said. “We will give each other a hard time, but I am really going to miss them. They are so much fun.”

That camaraderie can be felt immediately walking into the kitchen or cafeteria and listening to the banter of humor.

“This goes back to how I have been raised and all that,” Sgt. Patrick McKinnon said.

McKinnon is in the volunteer fire department back at home.

“I like giving back to the community,” he said. “With this you get to see the people you actually affect, and you’re getting to hand the kids the bag of food. You get to see the smiles on their faces.”

Gainey is used to cooking for 300 to 350 students a day. This situation has been something else entirely for her and her team, which also includes Stephanie Bryan, the East Bladen High School cafeteria manager.

“On any given day we do 1,500 meals,” Gainey said.

“We have all been working hard,” said Bryan.

They also load up the plates on the buses and send them out into the community.

“It’s been so great to get to ride the buses out in the community and see the impact, and it really warms your heart,” Maj. Ashley Perdue said. “I have been in the National Guard for 17 years now, and my normal duties are as a staff officer and pilot out of Raleigh. It’s been a really great experience here.”

He said that interacting with the community has been his highlight.

“Everyone here at the school has been really great to work with,” he said. “Gainey has been a great boss.”

Right now there are 15 working at that school, and Perdue is the officer in charge of 55 that have been placed at locations all around the county.

“They don’t stop,” Gainey said. “They are on it and wide open.”

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Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
The cafeteria at Elizabethtown Middle School has been filled with workers getting food together for area deliveries to children in Bladen County with help from the Army National Guard. Clockwise from left are Spc. Brook Cohen, Stephanie Bryant, Melinda Gainey, Maj. Ashley Perdue, Spc. Alexis Tovar and Sgt. Patrick McKinnon.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/web1_ng2.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
The cafeteria at Elizabethtown Middle School has been filled with workers getting food together for area deliveries to children in Bladen County with help from the Army National Guard. Clockwise from left are Spc. Brook Cohen, Stephanie Bryant, Melinda Gainey, Maj. Ashley Perdue, Spc. Alexis Tovar and Sgt. Patrick McKinnon.

Emily M. Williams

Bladen Journal

Emily M. Williams can be reached at 910-247-9133 or ewilliams@bladenjournal.com.