Mississippi’s ‘Your Barefoot Neighbor’ Rallies International Online Community in Massive Food Drive for Back Bay Mission

Not too long ago, Matthew Bounds was working in a regular job like the rest of us. But these days, he’s Your Barefoot Neighbor, an impactful online influencer who doles out easy-to-make, favorite hometown recipes and creates community. And as his most recent fundraiser for Back Bay Mission (BBM) in Biloxi, Miss., shows, that online community — #barefootneighborhood — really cooks!

On April 12, 2025, Bounds and at least 150 volunteers — possibly more — arrived at Back Bay Mission’s Micah Day Center. They unloaded one trailer and four cargo trucks filled with donations for BBM, packed 300 shelf-stable “Dollar Tree Dinners Meals in a Bag” for Back Bay Mission client families, and filled the food pantry with donated canned goods and hygiene items. The entire whirlwind fundraiser took place in just 12 days. Here’s how they did it.

12 Days of Supreme Effort

The plan began the evening of April 1 with a video Bounds posted inviting followers — an estimated 3.5 million people across the globe — to fill a wish list of food items in order to assemble 200 meals in a bag for Back Bay Mission. The listed items sold out in 17 minutes. Bounds added items for another 100 meals, and those sold out in 10 minutes. So Bounds started adding other shelf-stable pantry items to the wish list — and they sold out as soon as he listed them. One regular follower in the Barefoot Neighborhood suggested hygiene items, so Bounds listed those, which also sold out quickly. In just 90 minutes, the Barefoot Neighborhood had donated some $20,000 in groceries (including more than $4,200 in cash donations), plus almost $5,000 in hygiene items.

On April 5, 10 pallets of donated items arrived at Bounds’ doorstep. He, a neighbor, and his mail carrier — who had the day off and owns a cargo trailer — spent two hours moving the 10 pallets into a near-empty storage unit Bounds already rented. When that filled up, he rented the unit next to his, and filled that with the rest of the donated items.

Both Back Bay Mission and Your Barefoot Neighbor posted a call for volunteers to help pack the 300 meal kits into Ziploc bags and stock BBM’s food pantry. At 10 a.m. April 12, the volunteers showed up ready to work at BBM’s Micah Day Center. Each meal kit contained the ingredients — and a recipe card, thanks to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Gulfport, Miss. — for making a delicious chicken and dumplings meal for a family in need. The additional donated items filled Back Bay Mission’s food pantry to overflowing. 

The effort included additional donations from three companies: Campbell’s and Prego, plus the online company Pepper the App, a recipe go-to app and community for cooks of all levels. 

“Campbell’s and Prego originally wanted to send supplies for the meal bags, but by then my audience had already purchased everything on the wish list (and then some),” Bounds said. “I spoke with Back Bay to see what else would be helpful and passed that information along to the brands. They happily obliged, and sent [two pallets of] pop-top soups and pasta sauces to stock the shelves with.”

Bounds has an ongoing relationship with Pepper the App, recording a video featuring one of Pepper’s recipes each week. “I mentioned the food drive for Back Bay to them,” he said, “and when they sent my monthly payment, they included an extra $600 to pass along to Back Bay, to be used for whatever the pantry may need.”

Bounds also kicked in the proceeds — $1,645 —  from the first quarter sales of his website’s merchandise. Your Barefoot Neighbor offers a variety of merchandise, but Bounds doesn’t benefit from the items sold. “The first time I released a line of merchandise was May 2023, and it was a fundraiser for The Trevor Project,” Bounds said. “Since then, I’ve never kept any of my profits from merch sales. Those proceeds always go to good causes.”

Your Barefoot Neighbor offers merchandise year-round. Each quarter, Bounds donates the proceeds to a different charitable cause. “Since we were already holding a food drive for Back Bay’s food pantry, it seemed like a no-brainer that the donation for the first quarter of 2025 would go to them,” he said.

For Back Bay Mission’s Executive Director, the Rev. James Pennington, the efforts were inspirational. 

“Our collaboration with Matthew Bounds — known to many as the influencer Your Barefoot Neighbor — was one of the most rewarding experiences of my time at Back Bay Mission,” said Pennington. “It brought to life the true spirit of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in our coastal community, as more than 150 people of all ages, cultures, and affiliations came together to support those most affected by food insecurity.”

Your Barefoot Neighbor Beginnings

Bounds began his journey as Your Barefoot Neighbor during the pandemic when he and his husband, C.J., were — like most of us — stuck at home. He filled the extra time by teaching himself to cook, and gained inspiration and advice through videos from such notable chefs as Gordon Ramsey. In 2022, he posted his first “how-to” video to support a friend’s new TikTok channel. Surprised by its success, he decided to create Your Barefoot Neighbor. Bounds posts weekly videos featuring easy-to-make recipes complete with humor to make cooking less daunting to his viewers. A TedTalks bio says that Bounds “takes an inclusive, accessible approach to getting dinner on the table, working to remove the stigma from taking shortcuts when necessary. He believes there are no dumb questions when it comes to kitchen skills, and together with his audience, tries to make feeding ourselves a little less intimidating. Known for his colorful language, Matthew also draws a hard line on bad behavior and enforces it.”

Helping Others in Barefoot Neighborhood DNA

The Barefoot Neighborhood also was in Bounds’ concept from the beginning. “I knew that I wanted to leverage my platform to help others,” he said. “Of course, I never imagined how big that would end up being in a couple of years.”

His first fundraiser was to buy a bed for a child in foster care. The Barefoot Neighborhood exceeded expectations and supplied three beds. “Since then, we’ve been able to provide a warm place to sleep for close to 800 kids, along with all kinds of Amazon wish lists for organizations like Camp Able Coast and Backpack Buddies,” Bounds added.

After the Dust Settled

On the evening of April 12, when the last Dollar Tree Dinners Meal Bag was packed and the last can stocked on the Back Bay Mission shelves, Bounds took to his community to say thank you.

“This is what it looks like when a whole lot of people give a damn and … care if their neighbors get a meal on any given day,” he wrote. “After the bags were made, we moved everything else to the food pantry. Not only did we stock it up, we stacked the hallway with boxes of food. This is going to feed a lot of families. To my online audience, my local friends, and the entire #barefootneighborhood, thank you! You touched lives in a real way with this amazing turnout.”

Back Bay Mission social media quickly responded to Bounds’ post, writing, “Seriously, how are you SO cool?! We’re over here crying and jumping for joy. THANK YOU!! And thank you to everyone who donated!!”

Bounds was quick to point out that while what Your Barefoot Neighbor accomplished was great, it is not unique. “I’ve had a lot of people say to me, regarding the food drive, ‘I wish I could do something like that in my own community.’ My reply is this:

“‘Do it!’ Sure, it’s great to have an audience of millions, and for your fundraising video to go viral, and it’s fun when a hundred volunteers and the local news station show up — I’m certainly not discounting any of that. But imagine you set a goal of feeding 20 families, fell short, and only raised enough for five. Those five families will eat because of you, and that’s not nothing. I find that so many people have a desire to help, but life is busy, and chaotic. If you’ll present them with a simple, achievable, and clear way to assist, they’ll step up.”

The efforts of the Barefoot Neighborhood have left  Back Bay Mission staff members filled with awe and deep gratitude.

“There’s something really special about watching strangers come together (online, in-person, across state lines) to care for folks they may never meet. It reminds us that compassion is contagious,” said Dhiana Skrmetti, Back Bay Mission’s development director. “Plus, when it’s led by someone as joyfully unconventional as Your Barefoot Neighbor, it’s also just plain fun. Matthew, thank you for walking the walk (literally) and for showing up in a way that left us all a little speechless … and a lot inspired. To everyone who packed a bag, donated a can, or liked and shared a post: you made a difference.

“And our food pantry has never looked so good.”

Learn more about Back Bay Mission’s outreach along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.

Visit Matthew Bounds’ Your Barefoot Neighbor to learn more about #barefoot neighborhood, his merch that benefits charity, and to find his cookbooks. For the third season running, he has released a limited Pride edition of his first book, “Y’all Come Fix You a Plate.” The Pride edition features all the recipes from the regular edition, one additional recipe, and a few special surprises “sprinkled in the pages.”