Extra Table FEEDS and Entergy Mississippi will host an Extra Full Red Beans & Rice packing event on Friday, Feb. 6, at 1 p.m. at the Mississippi Trade Mart, Hall B, thanks to Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson for providing the space. Volunteers will pack at least 20,000 shelf-stable meals, with the potential to exceed that number as need continues to grow. Volunteers are invited to sign up online: Extra Full Ice Storm Response Event.
As Mississippi continues to recover from one of the most severe winter storms, Extra Table FEEDS is once again stepping up—this time alongside Entergy Mississippi—to deliver nutritious meals to families facing prolonged power outages, closed food pantries, and unsafe conditions across the state.
“I applaud Extra Table FEEDS for their efforts to provide almost 40,000 meals to families impacted by the recent ice storm,” said Haley Fisackerly, president and CEO, Entergy Mississippi. “Year-round, they provide nutritious, delicious food to neighbors in need and don’t hesitate to go above and beyond their usual operations when there is a natural disaster or other special circumstances in Mississippi. Some of the communities in the hardest hit areas have few grocery stores, compounding the need for the meal kits. The community packing event is a great way for those of us in the Jackson metro area to lend a helping hand to those affected by the storm.”
For many Mississippians, the storm has been inconvenient but manageable—heat is on, lights are working, water still flows, and groceries were stocked ahead of time. But for hundreds of thousands of others, the storm has been devastating. Utilities, emergency management teams, community agencies and elected officials have been working hard to help communities get back to normal.
Entergy Mississippi customers are expected to be fully restored by Feb. 6 but the severe winter weather has been extremely disruptive to some Mississippi families, especially those living in the Delta and north central Mississippi. The hardest hit are the families Extra Table serves every day through their network of food pantries—families without resources to storm-prep, families who rely on schools for warmth and meals for their children, and families living down rural roads with limited access to help.
Thankfully, Extra Table FEEDS did what 16 years of feeding experience has taught them to do. Before the ice hit, Extra Table trucks delivered food into some of the most vulnerable areas. That food is already feeding families.
But now, communities including Coldwater, Ripley, Rolling Fork, Mound Bayou, Cleveland, Oxford, Water Valley, and Hernando—among others—are facing a second crisis. Food pantries that families rely on for survival are closed due to no electricity, no water, downed trees, and dangerous road conditions, leaving both pantry-dependent families and residents displaced by the storm in urgent need of reliable meals.
“And that won’t stop us,” said Extra Table FEEDS executive director Martha Allen Price. “When things get hard, we double down.”
The response centers around Extra Full Red Beans & Rice, Mississippi’s first one-pot meal, developed by Extra Table FEEDS in 2023. Designed as a shelf-stable, four-serving meal, Extra Full requires only five cups of water and 30 minutes to prepare.
The meal features rice grown at Two Brooks Farm in the Mississippi Delta, special no-soak red beans, and a spice and vitamin blend with 22 added vitamins and minerals—nutrients research shows are often missing from food-insecure Mississippians’ diets. It is high in fiber, reduced in sodium, and provides a complete protein with no meat required.
Extra Table FEEDS’ Extra Full Meal Kit is produced in a mobile factory setting. 100 volunteers + 1 hour = 10,000 meals. Volunteers pack the meals, and Extra Table FEEDS distributes them at no cost to food pantries across the state—in addition to the $95,000 of food Extra Table ships monthly, all with zero government funding.
Research shows children in families who eat meals together twice a week are 40% more likely to earn As and Bs in school. Extra Full doesn’t just fill stomachs—it builds stability and fuels futures.
Little did Extra Table FEEDS know when it developed Mississippi’s first one-pot meal that it would become the perfect response when Mother Nature hit hardest.
Current Storm response distribution efforts include:
- 4,080 meals delivered to Oxford
- 12,720 meals en route to Grenada, Winona, and Delta communities
- 1,200 meals scheduled for delivery to Coldwater on Monday
That’s the power of neighbors feeding neighbors.
And even in the coldest moments, Mississippi continues to lead with helping hands.
How the Public are encouraged to help
- FOOD PACKING EVENT
Friday, February 6 | 1:00 PM
Mississippi Trade Mart, Hall B
All ages and abilities welcome.
>>> Sign up to volunteer: Extra Full Ice Storm Response Event
- CONTRIBUTE FINANCIALLY
Natural disaster response is not a standard budget line for Extra Table. Financial contributions go directly toward producing and delivering Extra Full meals to hard-hit communities.
>>> TEXT ‘ICESTORM’ to 44321 to donate instantly.
Or give online at www.ExtraTable.org.
100% of your donation will go straight to purchasing food to get to ice storm impacted areas of Mississippi.
- LOGISTICS SUPPORT
Volunteers with trucks are needed to transport meals to warming stations, city halls, and trusted contacts in iced-in communities.
>>> Interested volunteers are encouraged to reach out directly.
