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Hungry Americans are waiting in miles-long lines as food banks struggle to keep up with demand. Here's a look at how rising unemployment and dwindling volunteer pools are impacting US food pantries.https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/hungry-americans-are-waiting-in-miles-long-lines-as-food-banks-struggle-to-keep-up-with-demand-hereaposs-a-look-at-how-rising-unemployment-and-dwindling-volunteer-pools-are-impacting-us-food-pantries-/slidelist/75210096.cms2020-04-17T23:44:49+05:30

Hungry Americans are waiting in miles-long lines as food banks struggle to keep up with demand. Here's a look at how rising unemployment and dwindling volunteer pools are impacting US food pantries.

Bethany BironApr 17, 2020, 23:44 IST

A volunteer registers families waiting to collect food from a drive-through food bank in LaGrange, Kentucky.

In Nebraska, cars pulled up down a block in Omaha where residents ran out to quickly collect food from a local food bank.

In Los Angeles, cars spanned several miles from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Labor Community Services. Residents waited to obtain a box with produce, frozen chicken patties, and a meal kit.

In Pittsburgh, mobs of cars line up for boxes of food at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

In Irving, Texas, cars lined up a mile down the road to collect groceries form the North Texas Food Bank last week.

In an effort to prevent person-to-person contact and increase efficiency, many locales have transitioned to drive-through food banks, like the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne, Pennsylvania.

The National Guard also lent a hand at food banks in Washington, another state that experienced an early uptick in confirmed coronavirus cases.

Some regions have called for the assistance of the National Guard, like this food distribution center in New Rochelle, New York, one of the early hot spots for the virus.

As food pantries struggle to keep up, some are getting creative with how they donate food, like this young girl in Arizona who built a community food pantry with her family.

A volunteer mans the toilet paper at the San Diego Food Bank, which is doling out groceries and toiletries to families visiting by car.

A woman in a poncho, face mask, and gloves waits eagerly to get one of the 2,000 available from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

... and Los Angeles, where thousands of residents lined up in the rain recently to pick up food from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

Elsewhere across the US, long lines are forming at food banks in cities like Boston ...

Remaining volunteers in New York City unload boxes of food in Manhattan last weekend.

With volunteer pools decreasing dramatically, food pantries have been left with skeleton crews to organize food donations and distribute them to those in need.

A man leads food bank volunteers in prayer before distributing groceries in New York City last weekend.

According to New York City Mission Society, an organization dedicated to fighting multi-generational poverty in the city, food pantries are experiencing a 60% increase in demand for volunteers as several fall ill or opt to stay at home out of fear of contracting the virus.

In New York, which has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US, food pantries have declared a national emergency as they buckle under the weight of demand and a lack of volunteers.

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