So, the 25-year-old girl earned some money to buy gas, drove 48 kilometers to the GraceWorks food relief warehouse in Franklin, Tennessee, USA.
`I don’t have any income and I don’t get food stamps, so any help would be greatly appreciated right now,` Dotson said as she waited in line at GraceWorks.
Greg Perry, a volunteer at the GraceWorks food warehouse in Franklin, Tennessee, talks with people who came to receive food relief on April 9.
This food relief depot is always busy even during the best economic times.
`About 50% of the people who come here are new,` said Valencia A. Breckenridge, president and CEO of GraceWorks.
Demand is skyrocketing, but many relief food banks are running out of supplies.
`Difficulties on all sides are surrounding us,` said Katie Fitzgerald, executive director of Feeding America, an association that manages 200 food banks and 60,000 relief food pantries nationwide.
Feeding America said member banks recently increased demand by 98%, with an average increase of 63%, operating costs also increased by 95%.
The US Congress increased the amount of emergency food assistance in the Covid-19 relief package, but Fitzgerald warned the aid could take months to reach localities, while food banks deal with the
`People ask what do we need most? Need food and money,` said Nancy Keil, president and CEO of Second Harvest food bank in Middle Tennessee.
People sitting in cars lined up at Traders Village waiting for the San Antonia Food Bank to distribute food on April 9.
In addition to finding ways to meet the spike in demand, food banks must create new ways to distribute huge amounts of food while still ensuring the safety of both recipients and staff from the risk of infection with nCoV.
The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank in California quickly built food storages after several of its 275 sites were shut down because of Covid-19, according to spokeswoman Keely Hopkins.
Employees dive into the warehouse to sort and package food.
The East Nashville Cooperative Board of Directors recommended closing because many of the volunteers are elderly, including Judy Wahlstrom, who runs the program.
Wahlstrom, 70, refused to take time off, saying she always takes precautions like wearing gloves and a mask, allowing only one person at a time to pick out food.
`I told myself that if I got infected, it would be fate,` she said.
At the Oklahoma food bank, spokeswoman Cathy Nestlen said last year there were nearly 45,000 volunteers helping.
Nestlen said the bank, which operates as a food distribution center for hundreds of members, moved to six days a week this month and is considering seven days a week if demand increases.
Laura Burbank, a volunteer with GraceWorks in Franklin, pushes a food cart through warehouse shelves to take out to a household on April 9.
Oklahoma was always the state in need of food relief the most in the US before Covid-19 broke out.
Food banks like Nestlen recognize the sharp increase in demand could last for months to come and donations are vital now.
`Food that comes in through the back door is immediately in front of the customer,` said Courtney Vrablik, executive director of The Store.
Hannah