ORLANDO, Fla. – Hundreds of people lined up early Wednesday morning at Christ For All Nations Church for a food giveaway with Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and One Heart for Women and Children.
Shirley Boone had been waiting in line since 7 a.m. and said it was hard to see the line as long as it was hours before the giveaway began.
“More of my tears are more for people that are in this line because it’s sad,” Boone said. “Because look at all the people all the way down. I’m here at 7 a.m. Imagine how long they’ve been in line, the ones who are in front of me.”
Boone recently lost her job and while she needs the help, she’s going to take what she gets and give it to her five grandkids along with other neighbors on her block.
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“You know I call people over and I tell them ‘I have food, would you like it?’” Boone said. “You know they look at me strange, and I tell them I just came from the food bank, and they’ll take it.”
Director of Philanthropy for Second Harvest Food Bank, Dan Samuels, said Wednesday’s food drive will also help kids out on spring break who depend on free or reduced school lunches for consistent meals.
“That’s what today is about,” Samuels said. “It’s about putting food in the hands of those families so they can take care of their kids for this weeklong spring break.”
Samuels said food drives like the one on Wednesday heavily rely on volunteers. A group of high school seniors from Indiana said they wanted to rethink their senior trip this year.
Luke Tiernon is a senior at Heritage Christian School in Indiana. He said his class wanted to give back to others rather than giving to themselves this spring break.
“Orlando is such a beautiful city, but it also has a lot of opportunities where we can get involved and really give back to a community that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise,” Tiernan said.
Second Harvest estimates Wednesday’s food drive will feed 400 families.
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