DALLAS (KRLD) - People started parking their cars outside Fair Park at about 5 a.m. Thursday for a box of food provided by the North Texas Food Bank. The food bank was working with the Texas National Guard to set up the "mobile food pantry," which opened at 9.
"It's like a blessing. It's like going back to work," the man in his car at the front of the line said.
He says he lost his job because of the outbreak. He says he had never used a food bank before and was surprised so many people were lining up for help.
"It's like a bomb went off," he said. "It's like a war."
Cars were allowed into Fair Park at 9 a.m. By then, the line stretched about a mile.
The food bank ran out of boxes at its last mobile pantry. The organization and National Guard had 2,000 boxes then. Thursday, they had 6,500 boxes.
"When you see the need is this great, you know we're out here doing good for people who are in need right now," says North Texas Food Bank's Valerie Hawthorne. "This is what we do, and this is what we do best. That's why we're here is to serve communities in times of need. We can mobilize and we can get food where it needs to go, especially in emergency situations.
Each person was told to open their trunk. They were given a form to fill out with their name and income. People could ask for additional boxes for neighbors; they were required to give their neighbors name and address.
Hawthorne says demand at food banks across the country has surged since the outbreak started. She says a food pantry in Carrollton has seen a 376 percent increase in demand. Another in South Dallas says 70 percent of the people who came in last month were new.
"Anytime there's a crisis, whether it be a health or economic crisis or a combination of both like we have going on right now, the spirit of community will always be great, especially in cities like Dallas," Hawthorne says.
To deal with the increase in demand, states are now able to purchase food to give food banks. Hawthorne says a bi-partisan group of lawmakers pushed for FEMA to reimburse state and local governments that buy food for organizations like hers. That change took effect last weekend.
