Every Saturday morning, hundreds of drivers line up in their vehicles in the parking lot of the Boynton Beach Mall in Florida, waiting to receive a meal.
“These are completely normal people. They have jobs,” Charles Bender told Fox News Digital. “They just can’t cope.”
Bender is the founding CEO of Place of Hope, a faith-based organization that provides programs and services children and families in five Florida counties.
As the number of hungry people increases, food supplies are more important than ever in America
“Every Saturday of the month we provide supplies to families who urgently need food Nutrient supply – and that’s a lot,” said Bender. “So we’re out there every Saturday just trying to meet their needs.”
The initiative started at the beginning of the year. After about three months, Bender said, Place of Hope had spent more than a million pounds of food.
Vehicles pass through the Place of Hope food distribution line in the Boynton Beach Mall parking lot in Florida. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)
By December, that number had grown to over 2 million.
Place of Hope volunteers meet every Saturday morning for a few hours to provide those waiting in line with essentials Food and Drink – everything for free.
“There is no pre-screening,” Bender said. “These are just people in need … and volunteers are there to load their cars with donated goods.”
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The donated items come from area businesses, grocery stores like Publix and Trader Joe’s and even the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bender said.
“We’re talking solid, nutritious meals for families – fruits and vegetables, meat, chicken and all sorts of other things, some canned goods,” he said.
Volunteers sort bags of food before the event begins. People line up in their cars to receive complete meals, including vegetables and meat. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)
On a Saturday in late September, volunteers sorted through donation items that had been unloaded from refrigerated trucks and palaces.
The food and drinks donated included cucumbers, pumpkin, potatoes, meat, Bread, cheese, milk and juice. There was even baby food.
Before the line opened, volunteers gathered around a priest who led them in prayer. Then it was time to go to work.
A pastor leads volunteers in prayer before the line opens. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)
Volunteers work like an assembly line, filling every open trunk with food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, water and non-alcoholic drinksas the vehicles move slowly past each designated stop.
From start to finish it takes about two and a half minutes.
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Vehicles often line up before sunrise – hours before distribution begins – to secure a spot.
A volunteer loads some cheese into the trunk of a car in line. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)
“People hurt,” Bender said.
“Who wants to wait in line for food on a Saturday? But if it has to be done, then yes.”
Hot dogs and sausages sit on a table, ready to be loaded into the trunks of vehicles. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)
The first rider to make it through the line that Saturday identified himself as Mike and refused to give his last name.
He told Fox News Digital that he is disabled and is grateful to Place of Hope for its helping hand.
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“I thank God they’re doing this,” he said. “It’s a good thing they’re doing. It really helps a lot.”
A man who was first in line at one of the drive-thru food distributions told Fox News Digital that he was grateful for the help. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)
The great-grandfather called it “a blessing.”
Place of Hope doesn’t just provide families with food on Saturdays.
The organization also provides meals to area foster families throughout the week.
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“It’s just good people coming together to meet this need,” Bender said.
This need is felt most acutely on Saturday mornings in an otherwise sparse mall parking lot.
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“These are everyday people from all walks of life who just need a little extra help because it didn’t seem like that four years ago,” Bender said.
“It didn’t feel like that.”
