Food Bank Lines Stretch For Miles As Desperate Americans Struggle Amid Economic Crisis

The New York Times: It’s ‘People, People, People’ As Lines Stretch Across America
Standing in line used to be an American pastime, whether it was lining up for Broadway shows, camping outside movie theaters before a Star Wars premiere or shivering outside big-box stores to be the first inside on Black Friday. The coronavirus has changed all that. Now, millions of people across the country are risking their health to wait in tense, sometimes desperate, new lines for basic needs as the economic toll of the virus grips the country. In cars and on foot, they are snapping on masks and waiting for hours to stock up on groceries, file for unemployment assistance, cast their ballots and pick up boxes of donated food. The lines stretch around blocks and clog two-lane highways. (Healy, 4/12)

CBS News: Pandemic Puts Strain On People Relying On Food Banks: “We’re Starving … But We’re Not The Only Ones”
The coronavirus pandemic that has already cost more than 22,000 American lives is also causing many to go hungry. Thousands have been forced to wait for hours in long lines at food banks across the country. Feeding America, the nation’s largest network of food banks, reported a 98 percent increase in demand. (4/13)

Texas Public Radio: Another Mega Drive Planned After 10,000 People Line Up At San Antonio Food Bank
The San Antonio Food Bank is in dire need of monetary donations and volunteers as demand on its food stock has doubled during the COVID-19 outbreak. The food bank plans another mega drive thru food giveaway at the Alamodome on Friday, April 17th beginning at 10 a.m. A large-scale food giveaway at Traders Village on the Southwest Side Friday attracted 10,000 people in a single day. Aerial images shot by television news helicopters showed long lines of vehicles stacking up and made national headlines. (Kirkpatrick, 4/12)

Houston Chronicle: Photos: Vehicles Line Up Before Dawn For San Antonio Food Bank 
Thousands of vehicles lined up before dawn Thursday to seek aid from the San Antonio Food Bank. The agency fed about 10,000 households at a South Side flea market amid the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic. (Dunphy, 4/10)

San Antonio Express-News: Shea Serrano Tweet Spurs $100,000 In Donations To San Antonio Food Bank
The harrowing images of thousands of cars lined up for Thursday’s San Antonio Food Bank giveaway captured the attention of the nation and prompted thousands of people to reach for their wallets, including bestselling author Shea Serrano. The San Antonio native took to Twitter on Saturday morning, urging his nearly 372,000 followers to donate to the Food Bank if they have the means. Less than eight hours later, $100,000 in donations had poured in. (Cline, 4/11)

Boston Globe: Volunteer Shortages, Surging Demand: Mass. Food Banks Say This Is Unlike Any Other Point In History
The first Thursday of every month typically brings about 250 to 300 families to the Watch City Market, a Waltham food pantry that distributes fresh fruit and veggies and other healthy staples to those in need. On April 2, the first time the pantry opened after the COVID-19 crisis struck, a line of cars began queuing up an hour and a half before distribution began. More than 900 people showed up at the church parking lot where the group had moved its operations to accommodate social distancing, but the pantry only had food for the first 330 in line. (Nanos and McGrane, 4/12)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: More Than 1,000 Families Wait In Line For Drive-Through Food Pickup At PPG Paints Arena
The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank held another drive-up distribution of food on Friday at the PPG Paints Arena. The food bank teamed up with the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Allegheny Fayette Central Labor Council to distribute two boxes of food to 1,300 vehicles that waited in long lines to gain access to the parking lots around the arena. (4/10)

MSNBC: VIDEO: Economic Tolls Grows As Millions File For Unemployment, Food Bank Lines Grow
Betsey Stevenson tells Ali Velshi that the 6-7 million who filed for unemployment per week might not represent how many are actually trying to file, but what the system can handle. Jared Bernstein says the growing food bank lines is a stark reminder that many families with little to no savings waiting on help from the government could be “a couple of weeks away from real concerns about meeting basic needs, putting food on the table, avoiding eviction.” (4/10)