Volunteers distribute food after Arkansas mass shooting closes town's only grocery store

(27 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fordyce, Arkansas - 26 June 2024
1. Volunteers hand out food to a stream of cars
2. Exterior of closed Mad Butcher grocery store
3. A sign on the window of The Mad Butcher grocery store announces its closure
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4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rhonda Lawson, volunteer:
"We are distributing food to people because the grocery store is closed and it's the only grocery store in town, Mad Butcher. So we are a hub for people dropping off food and we are delivering food to people who need it."
5. Volunteers prepare food donations
6. A memorial outside the shooting site
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7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rhonda Lawson, volunteer:
"It's just heartbreaking and it's impacted everybody because everybody knows everybody."
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8. SOUNDBITE (English) Darrin Brazil, volunteer:
"When you live in the small community of Fordyce, 3,200 people, and you only have one grocery store, when that grocery store closes down everybody feels the impact."
9. Volunteers prepare food donations
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10. SOUNDBITE (English) Lori Parrson, volunteer:
"When it's people you know it- it puts a much - it
puts a very personal face on it."
11. Volunteers distribute donated food in the rain
STORYLINE:
A steady rain was falling outside Fordyce High School, but that didn't deter an army of volunteers who raced to hand out jugs of milks and bags of groceries to a line of cars snaked around the parking lot.
In the days since a gunman killed four people and injured 10 others at the Mad Butcher grocery, this town of 3,200 people has been grieving and grappling with the shock of a mass killing.
But the community has also faced the void left by the store's temporary closure.
The Mad Butcher is the only grocery store in this south Arkansas town and it's remained closed as workers clean up from the aftermath _ leaving residents with few nearby alternatives.
Though the town has a Walmart and other discount retailers, the closest grocery stores or supermarkets are located in neighboring cities half an hour away.
The school is one of several food distribution sites set up for residents to pick up groceries as the store is closed and being cleaned up. Another has been set up at a city facility , and local churches are holding similar ones.
(AP video by Andrew DeMillo)
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[@astrodorkdee5087]

A community coming together after a tragedy that was televised nationally, now receives minimal coverage. Doom and Gloom is their goal but it wont prevail.