Local center helping mothers with baby formula needs amid aftermath of Fordyce mass shooting

FORDYCE, Ark.- The Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce has reopened but some mothers are uncertain about returning, so a local center is helping provide essentials for their children in the meantime.

Hope Place Fordyce director Melissa Robbins said her organization has been working to help families get baby formula amid the aftermath of the deadly mass shooting that happened more than a week ago.

“We had 37 families come through getting formula, and we are able to continue reaching out, making sure they have everything they need,” Robbins said.

Hope Place Fordyce is a pregnancy care center that provides help to expecting parents and individuals and also to parents of kids 12 years old and under.

Some of those services include classes and assistance with learning for parents, but they also provide resources through their baby closet. The center provides formula as well as diapers, wipes, bottles and clothing.

Robbins described learning of the issue after reaching out to a client following the shooting.

“I found out later that one of our clients was there at the store when it happened,” Hope Place Fordyce Director Melissa Robbins said.

Robbins reached out after hearing the news, trying to find the best way she could help. Many food distribution locations had opened, but one thing she learned was heartbreaking.

“I received word that there would be formula at those distributions, but when the formula didn’t get there, well,” Robbins said.

Hoping to tackle the issue, she made a phone call.

“The owner of Mad Butcher was just a call away,” Robbins said. “I just went and picked it up, and he was like, ‘Yep, we need to make sure our babies are fed too.’”

She said helping mothers get formula was especially important when the Mad Butcher grocery store was closed.

“Mad Butcher is the only grocery store within 20 miles that accepts WIC benefits, and so that put them out,” Robbins said. “This has really caused a hardship on a lot of families.”

Many families could not afford to travel out of town to get groceries. Between the food distribution centers and Hope Place, the whole family can be fed for free without entering the grocery store.

These centers said they will continue helping with issue until everyone feels comfortable going back to the store themselves. Robbins said for some, that was Tuesday but for others, it may take longer.

“I know even for me personally, I have a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old, and that thought crosses through your mind like what if,” Robbins said. “I think a lot of moms who are in our community have been in that place of what if, ‘What if I was?’”

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