SAN ANTONIO – Images and videos captured by a KSAT12 chopper of the San Antonio Food Bank’s mega distribution event on Thursday are giving residents in San Antonio and beyond a heightened sense of reality.
More than 5,000 families showed up to the site at Trader’s Village on the South Side to receive food amid the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis.
The cars filled the temporarily shuttered flea market’s parking lot, waiting bumper-to-bumper as volunteers handed out fruit, frozen items and other food that should last them the rest of the month.
Thursday’s event was the fourth and largest distribution the food bank has held in recent weeks. The drive-thru food giveaways are a way for people to receive help while practicing social distancing.
Michael Guerra, the food bank’s chief resources officer, told KSAT 12 News Thursday that he expected to exceed the initial 5,000 estimate and actually feed closer to 6,000 families.
He added that more than 1 million pounds of food came from the food bank’s warehouse.
The food bank has another mega food distribution planned for April 17 at the Alamodome. Pre-registration is required. For more information, click here.
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, food bank president and CEO Eric Cooper is asking people to fast on Good Friday as a way to help people in the community.
Cooper is encouraging people to make a “fast offering” to the Food Bank equal to the value of the meals skipped.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.
This story was originally published on KRPC 2′s sister station website, KSAT.com.