Long lines of vehicles passed through a far West Side high school sports stadium on Friday to pick up food at the San Antonio Food Bank's 100th mega food distribution event.
Eric Cooper, president and CEO of the food bank, said 250 volunteers loaded food into vehicles driven by people in need into the parking lot of Gustafson Stadium in the Northside ISD.
He said at least 1,500 families were assisted during the drive through food distribution. He said some of the same families rely on the food bank as much as four times of year in tough times.
Cooper said San Antonio's food scarcity problem has not relented since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The pandemic brought the unprecedented demand, but inflation, elevated expenses, rent, for utilities — all create such a pressure on household budgets," he said.
Cooper said the food bank has given away 10,000,000 pounds of food during the 100 mega food distributions, the first of which during the start of the pandemic made national news. Television news helicopters captured images of miles of vehicles lined up at Trader's Village.
Food bank officials said 4,000,000 of the 10,000,000 pounds of food given away were through its partnership with the NISD.
Cooper said San Antonians who want to help the food bank's mission can do something as simple as donating one dollar.
"The best thing people can give is a dollar," he said. "One dollar to us equals seven meals or ten pounds of food. We can leverage the dollar the best," he said.
He thanked corporate sponsors, like San Antonio-based grocery giant HEB, for their support of the food bank.
He said food donations, including peanut butter, the number one sought after food from the bank, can also be made. Volunteers are also needed.
Learn more about how to help feed area residents at safoodbank.org.
