ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, thousands of Central Florida residents have lost their jobs.
Many organizations have seen a sharp increase in the number of families needing help.
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“Food insecurity has always been an issue in Central Florida, and around the nation, COVID has just made everything worse”, said Dan Ryan, Director of Programs for the Christan Sharing Center.
For some, they have had to choose between paying their rent or buying food.
Denise Cross of Apopka says she is doing all she can to help her daughter.
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“She is three months behind on her rent right now, so we are trying to help her out as much as we can with picking up food for her,” Cross said.
At the Christan Sharing Center food distribution event in Altamonte Springs on Friday, families received a box of household items and six bags of food.
Volunteers spent the afternoon loading up the trunks and back seats of vehicles.
This is the fourth food distribution this year by the center, and nearly a thousand families have received help.
“We were up almost 30% of families this year even before COVID,” Ryan said.
He says the food distributed will last only two weeks and more donations are needed to keep up with the demand.
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