Oxford's Unity Displayed as Nonprofits Team Up After Historic Storm
Lovepacks, Oxford Community Market and Ole Miss rally around families left in the cold after ice storm
OXFORD, Miss. – As ice toppled trees across Lafayette County the weekend of Jan. 25, a text message from a University of Mississippi official illuminated Camie Bianco's phone.
Another text, from Betsy Chapman, director of Oxford Community Market, arrived quickly. Both alerted Bianco, vice president of the Lovepacks board, to a meeting with various community leaders with one question in mind: How can we help?
The answer came quickly and, as it so often does in Oxford, through relationships more than a decade old.
Camie Bianco (right) organizes and encourages volunteers gathered at the Oxford School District athletics facility following January’s historic ice storm. Many in the crowd showed up to serve families in need despite still being without power in their own homes, reflecting what Bianco described as the 'overwhelming generosity' of the Oxford community. Photo by Clara Turnage/University Marketing and Communications
"Through Lovepacks, we've made connections; we've teamed with different nonprofits and organizations," Bianco said. "There's sort of a network that had already been happening for years, and this kind of brought that network all together."
Laura Martin, associate director of the Grisham-McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement, sent the initial community meeting text. Then, Lovepacks joined forces with Kristi Bridgers and Leigh Tucker, founder and board member of More Than a Meal, respectively.
"We partnered up and said, 'Let's just do what we do every week,'" Bianco said. "We already have a team in place. We have people who have been involved with us for the last 16 years."
Lovepacks provides supplemental food for needy school-age children in Oxford and Lafayette County on weekend and holidays. More Than a Meal provides a hot meal, companionship and essential services to members of the community in need.
Bradley Robertson, superintendent of the Oxford School District, agreed to allow the two nonprofits to set up a collection and distribution site in the athletics building. The district provided hot meals from the middle school cafeteria next door.
"We did what we do," Bianco said simply. "We just ran our nonprofits together, pulled from our resources and were able to help."
Shinna Mathews, a chef manager for Ole Miss Dining Services, hands out stacks of hot meals prepared for families affected by the January ice story, part of a campuswide relief effort to support Oxford-area residents during extended power outages. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
Volunteers showed up in numbers that stunned even Bianco, wife of Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco. Some volunteers still had no power at home themselves, she said.
"They were like, 'We can either sit in our house, or we can come help somebody.' And they chose to come help somebody. Those are the people I just think the world of.
"I was shocked by the greatness of the response. I didn't doubt that people would respond because I've lived here for 26 years, I've seen it over and over again, but the magnitude of the response was just incredible."
Even Bianco's own family folded seamlessly into the effort. Her daughter put in hours daily, recruiting friends to help, too. One of her son's girlfriends also made a daily commitment to the massive effort.
When Bianco pauses to reflect, it isn't the ice or the downed limbs she comes back to.
"I will remember the faces of those serving and the faces of those that came in for help," she said.
"People walking in the door with mounds of things to donate. They just kept coming. The people who came in and needed help were so grateful for whatever we could give them. That makes you want to keep doing it, because it really is helping somebody."
Camie Bianco (left), vice president of the Lovepacks board, greets community members dropping off donations outside the Oxford School District athletics building following the January ice storm. Submitted photo
From planning to execution, she's grateful for the many people who made help happen, including Martin and Chapman. Lynn Wilkins, UM parent and caregiver program manager, and Liza Fruge, Lovepacks board member, played vital roles in getting the effort running, Bianco said.
As the days grow warmer, efforts by utility crews also shouldn't be overlooked, she said. Some of them have continued work for weeks to fully restore the Mississippi community.
"Those people deserve so much credit," Bianco said. "They're still fighting the fight. We were doing what we do every day. They're the heroes, the people out there really doing it."
Donations poured in during the storm, including a gift of 28 pallets of nonperishable food from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We can't chop everybody's trees down," Bianco said. "But we can get you a bag of food, and hopefully that helps you get through another day."
Lovepacks is rebuilding its pantry after the surge and has returned to its regular Wednesday distribution schedule. Demand has grown, and Bianco expects things to stay that way for a while.
Lovepacks will meet it that demand the same way it always has: by working as a team, or perhaps, as a family like the Biancos.
"I couldn't do it without all the people that are part of our team and make it happen every week," she said. "It is not me. It is a whole giant team of people that just show up and do the work."
To support Lovepacks, click here or call 662-832-0206. Donations may also be sent to Lovepacks; P.O. Box 721; Oxford, MS 38655.
Top: Camie Bianco, who serves on the LovePacks board of directors, carries a box of donated goods during a donation drop off organized by representatives from the Oxford Community Market and the University of Mississippi. Photo by Clara Turnage/University Marketing and Communications