In photos: Americans wait at food banks before Thanksgiving
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Residents line up in their cars at a food distribution site in Clermont, Fla., Nov. 21. Photo: Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Thousands of Americans waited in long lines at food banks in the week before Thanksgiving to pick up turkeys, canned goods, broccoli and other vegetables.
Why it matters: As the holiday season approaches, families across the U.S. are in need of food assistance due to chronic unemployment and economic hardship caused by COVID-19 — and many food pantries already served an unprecedented number of people this spring.
Zoom in: The Middle Georgia Regional Food Bank, part of the Feeding America Network, has distributed almost 3 million meals this quarter — 1 million more than the previous quarter before the pandemic began, NPR reports.
- Los Angeles' First Unitarian Church expected roughly 1,000 people to line up this weekend, CNN reports, while people in DeKalb County, Georgia, lined up nearly five hours before one food drive opened.
