On Tuesdays and Thursdays, His Compassion Food Bank isn’t hard to find. Just look for the line of cars parked adjacent to northeast Jacksonville Road.
The line often stretches up to three-quarters of a mile back toward County Road 326 as people wait in the outreach’s food distribution drive-through car line.
In 2020, His Compassion volunteers took in and then distributed over 13 million pounds of food in the drive-throughs and also provided bulk amounts of food for 82 local community agencies and churches. Food bank officials say this year is starting off with increased need spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are seeing people come through our car line for the first time needing food because they lost their job. The need for nutritious food especially for children has also increased greatly in the remote areas of the county, said Les Bowen, secretary- treasurer for His Compassion.