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Many Turn to "Feeding South Florida" Nonprofit After COVID-19 Job Losses

Posted at 3:58 PM, Apr 21, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-21 15:58:28-04

Hundreds of people looking for help to rebound from this crisis. lined up nearly two hours before Feeding South Florida’s food distribution Tuesday morning. Judy was one of them.

“Unemployment has been hard,” said Judy.

She got up at 6am to get food for her family. She is one of hundreds of thousands of South Floridians who have lost their jobs and are now turning to the nonprofit Feeding South Florida for help.

“I feel like right now I want to cry. It’s such a relief and such a great thing, it’s great to see the communities giving back,” said Judy.

And as unemployment numbers continue to climb, Feeding South Florida CEO Paco Velez says the demand for food increases.

“We’re used to receiving about 120 phone calls a day for food assistance. This past week we’ve been receiving over 4,700 calls every day for families just looking for food,” said Velez.

With the increase of demand, more volunteers are needed. In order for more to work, Velez opened another warehouse so volunteers can work safely.

“We have to maintain social distancing; we have to maintain our CDC guidelines. But if folks can help, not just here but at our distributions with school districts as well as our mass distributions, we would be very grateful,” said Velez.

Velez says if you don't feel safe volunteering, just one dollar makes a difference.

“For families that rely on Feeding South Florida because they have no income, if Feeding South Florida runs out of food, they just don’t eat,” said Velez.

“We’ve been without work for almost a month and a half, so it’s been great help,” said Leo.

We know times are tough for a lot of families right now. So, if you are in need or if you want to help, head to feedingsouthflorida.org.