Vehicles line up for food distribution in Clermont, Florida, on November 21.

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With people out of work, food banks are stepping up

By Kyle Almond, Marie Barbier, Heather Fulbright and Rebecca Wright, CNN

Updated 1712 GMT (0112 HKT) November 30, 2020

Vehicles line up for food distribution in Clermont, Florida, on November 21.

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The coronavirus pandemic has put millions of Americans out of work, and many families have been turning to food banks to get by.

Many of these food banks have been offering drive-through services where groceries can be loaded into people's vehicles. We've seen these lines stretch for miles as people seek staples such as milk, eggs, rice and canned goods.

Healthy Waltham, a nonprofit in Massachusetts, usually serves 250-300 people at its monthly food pantry. When it opened for the first time during the pandemic, 900 people showed up.

"We ran out of food in 45 minutes," executive director Myriam Michel told The Boston Globe in April. "The need has increased tremendously."

Krista Garofalo, chief resource officer for the Treasure Coast Food Bank, said they were seeing a lot of new faces.

"Now there's also people that were working but have lost their jobs or had their hours cut," she said in April. "These are people who have never needed assistance before.

"We'll be working in the community as long as we're needed."

Hundreds of homeless people wait in line to receive food from the Los Angeles Mission on the day before Thanksgiving.

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Volunteers prepare Thanksgiving meals at the Salvation Army in Orlando.

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Two women take home free meals after waiting in a long line at a high school in South Gate, California, on November 25.

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Volunteers in Denver work at the Food Bank of the Rockies on November 25.

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Members of the Indiana National Guard assist food bank volunteers as they distribute Thanksgiving meals in Bloomington, Indiana, on November 20.

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People wait in line to receive food at the Bay Area Rescue Mission's Thanksgiving Giveaway in Richmond, California.

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Volunteers distribute turkeys and other foods in Clermont, Florida.

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Cars line up as the Pantry 279 food bank hands out Thanksgiving meals in Bloomington, Indiana.

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Cars line up at a food distribution site sponsored by local churches and the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

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A volunteer puts on gloves before packing boxes of food outside the Second Harvest Food Bank in Irvine, California, on November 19.

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Volunteers direct traffic at a food distribution site in Clermont, Florida.

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The Food Bank for New York City hosted a pop-up food pantry in September.

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Paulina Bastidas-Yale helps distribute food at a Boston church in September.

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Boxes of cereal are ready to be distributed at the Hope Rescue Mission in Reading, Pennsylvania, in August.

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Volunteer Joseph Cunliffe holds a bag of bread to put in someone's car in Robesonia, Pennsylvania, in August.

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Drivers line up for a pop-up grocery event in Mankato, Minnesota, in July.

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A volunteer hands two dozen eggs to a Helping Harvest employee to give to someone in their car in Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania, in June.

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Volunteers load plastic bags with food in Everett, Massachusetts, during a weekly food pantry service run by Grace Ministries of the North Shore.

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People line up for food assistance in Waltham, Massachusetts, in April.

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People wait in their cars for the San Antonio Food Bank to begin distributing food in April.

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Volunteers at the Capital Area Food Bank pack up boxes of food to be distributed in Washington, DC.

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Volunteers and city employees prepare to hand out bags of food at a drive-through site in Opa-locka, Florida, in April. The food was provided by the food bank Feeding South Florida.

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Gladys Socop helps to bag up food while volunteering at a pop-up food pantry in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

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National Guard members help pack food boxes at the Nourish Pierce County food bank in Tacoma, Washington.

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A line of cars waits to receive food at a distribution site in Van Nuys, California, in April.

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Bags of fruit await residents during a food drive in Waltham, Massachusetts.

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A volunteer in Phoenix hands over a box donated by St. Mary's Food Bank in April. The drive-through was set up for the general public on the campus of Phoenix College.

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Volunteers with Forgotten Harvest load food into vehicles at a mobile pantry in Detroit.

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Volunteer Maria Cunningham sorts through bags of food before distributing them at a church in Des Moines, Iowa, in April.

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Volunteers in Orlando hand out food from the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

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Cars line up in a mall parking lot that was the site of a drive-through food pantry in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Volunteer David Mack hands a woman food at the First AME Church in Athens, Georgia.

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Donated supplies wait for distribution at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, DC.

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A volunteer holds fruit while helping to distribute food at Pantry 279 in Ellettsville, Indiana.

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An employee of the Food Bank for New York City transports a pallet of groceries in April.

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Treasure Coast Food Bank volunteer Lynn Goeke loads a box of apples into a vehicle during a drive-through food distribution in Fort Pierce, Florida.

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People line up for food at Sharing & Caring Hands, a charity in Minneapolis, in March.

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