A little more than a week before Thanksgiving, a line formed outside the Freestore Foodbank. Before the pantry opened, the temperature was 42 degrees.
"Are you here for food?" customers were asked when they walked in. The answer was consistent: "Yes."
At the beginning of the pandemic, the food bank provided for 100 to 125 people a day. Recently, it served 374 on a single day.
For some in line, the experience was a new embarrassment they didn’t want to discuss. For others, it was a monthly trip, part of their survival.
Marquette Brant was allowed 35 pounds of groceries, but she took less.
She works at Sam’s Club, but in March, her hours were cut. In May, she came to the food bank for the first time.
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