A look inside Mission: St. Louis Essentials Drives

Each month, Mission: St. Louis holds an Essentials Drive to provide groceries, diapers and hygiene items to the St. Louis community. The drives began in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, after community members shared how hard it was to afford food and other necessities. 

Signs were posted along Grand Blvd and staff and volunteers came together to organize carpool essentials drives, providing food and supplies to people struggling with accessibility.  

During this time, the high cost of groceries, lack of transportation and fears around in-person grocery shopping only deepened the already existing issue of food access St. Louis City (Ricketts, 2021). In 2022, 1 in 7 people in the Greater St. Louis area struggled with food insecurity (Knopp, 2024). We listened and understood that there was still a need for these drives, even beyond our initial emergency response. We have since continued doing drives past the height of the pandemic. 

Today, the Essentials Drive serves about 150 families each month through in-person events in partnership with community volunteers. We provide everyday necessities like milk, eggs and diapers, while also providing foods and snacks that most food pantries do not offer. Our outreach and engagement team are also present at our drives, providing other essentials and connecting them to other Mission: St. Louis programs.  

The lack of access to affordable food is something that has impacted St. Louis city residents for decades. In recent years, the neighborhood Schnucks closed and residents lost both a grocery store and pharmacy. With fewer accessible grocery stores, residents are then left to rely on overpriced, less nutritious options or travel further to access basic groceries. By holding our monthly Essentials Drives, we hope to not only meet the immediate need but also address the root causes of food insecurity in the region. 

Sources 

Knopp, M. (2024, May 15). Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap. St. Louis Area Foodbank. https://stlfoodbank.org/blog/map-the-meal-gap-for2022/ 

Ricketts, L. R. (2021). Food insecurity in the Eighth District. Bridges (Vol. 1). https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/bridges/volume-1-2021/food-insecurity-eighth-district