At the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles, the demand for free meals has increased by 40 to 50 percent since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. “We had to get creative,” said mission CEO Andy Bales.

He began asking local restaurants for help. One agreed to provide pizzas three to four times a week. Other contributions came from sub and hamburger chains, a bakery, and a barbecue restaurant. “We are adapting to this new world we live in,” Bales said.

For those who live on the border of the Navajo Nation Reservation in New Mexico, the most apparent evidence of the coronavirus pandemic is what is missing. On an average weekend, Annette Reich of Navajo Ministries, which runs a children’s home in Farmington, N.M., sees Native American residents drive past her offices to buy groceries and other supplies. The Walmart just down the road usually bustles, and the streets are crowded. But now, the local Native American population has virtually vanished.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Salomon Diego Alonzo in August 2019 along with nearly 700 other migrant workers at food processing plants in Mississippi. Immigration authorities sent the 26-year-old Guatemalan, who had lived illegally in the United States since 2012, to a detention center in Monroe, La., where he stayed in a shared dormitory.

Mark Judkins, who helps pastor Mosaic Midtown Church in Detroit, said he is worried about what he’ll find when he reconnects with the congregation on the other side of the pandemic. The majority of Mosaic church members are African American, many from the poorer neighborhoods of the city. Several have already called to say their elderly parents have died of COVID-19 or that they’re sick themselves.

Craig Murray, a recovering drug and alcohol addict in Austin, Texas, relapsed once before. While dealing with the stress of multiple jobs, a new marriage, and his wife’s miscarriage, he stopped going to Alcoholics Anonymous and checking in with his sponsor.

While the rest of the United States practices social distancing, most prison inmates live in quarters where they physically cannot stay the recommended 6 feet apart. They usually have at least one cellmate, and some live in dormitory-like housing with close-set bunks. They eat together and exercise together. Many prisons ban hand sanitizer because it has alcohol in it.

As the new coronavirus pandemic extends into another week, many Americans face reduced hours and pay or no jobs at all. Communities need the assistance of nonprofit groups like the winners of WORLD’s 2019 Hope Awards for Effective Compassion even more at this time. The spread of the disease makes it harder to help the poor, but the ministries’ reliance on God provides hope and clarifies their purpose.