For the past four years, Brian Cooper has been using this board to record the number of families served at Poway's Community Food Connection distributions.
“When I started we were doing 40 cars a night, tonight we did 305,” said Cooper.
Cooper who coordinates the events says the number of people they serve has been skyrocketing over the past few months.
“It’s growing every night,” said Cooper. “We distribute three times a week and every night it goes up from the previous Monday. This week was bigger than the last Monday and last Monday was bigger than the previous.”
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With gas prices soaring along with grocery costs he says many people are seeking help for the first time.
“It just makes me really want to cry,” said Marie Lee. “It feels like it's a blessing, a blessing from god because it helps us survive.”
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Lee says she started coming to the pantry earlier this year. For Lucy, it’s also only been a few weeks.
“It helps a lot,” said Lucy.
Community Food Connection in Poway Isn't the only place experiencing high demands.
Feeding San Diego, one of the largest food distribution centers in the county says they too are seeing increasing demand throughout their distribution events. They don't have data for the month of July yet, but say so far the month of June has served the largest amount of families since they started food distributions last year.
“Come on down, we could use all the help we can get,” said David Piccus, a volunteer.
As more families turn to food pantries for help many struggles to keep up with the demand.
Community Food Connection in Poway says they are in big need of volunteers.
“We get new people every week but at the same time, we lose people every week,” Cooper.
Citing their tracked data the group expects the need won't end anytime soon.
“We’re going to see more and more,” Cooper.
They're asking the community to come together, and help them help their neighbors.
