St. Matthew’s House expects record turnout at East Naples food bank

People are in such need that many are heading out to food banks to feed themselves and their families, and St. Matthew’s House expects to feed a record number of people  Thursday at its East Naples food bank.

Volunteers at St. Matthew’s House seem to see more cars than they anticipated every time they open up food distribution. In May, the organization’s food bank gave out 354,000 pounds of food to the community, and on Tuesday it set a record by serving 350 families in just one hour before the food ran out.

On Thursday, volunteers will be giving things out like meat, orange juice, fruits and vegetables at Naples Alliance Church, located at 2504 Estey Ave. Officials say that while the need is becoming greater than ever, they will continue to hold food banks as often as possible.

“St. Matthew’s House is really donating out to the community along with our food bank partners, we’ve almost… we have about $842,000 a month that goes out to our families, you know, with the help of the food banks and with the help of all of our donors,” said Lorna McLain, food assistance director at St. Matthew’s House. “We are having an operation and a lot of families out there… those are big numbers out there, a big need and a big supply.”

St. Matthew’s House is currently donating close to $140 per family, but officials say their supply is going fast since the need is greater.

“We are normally feeding 100, and then sometimes 200 cars will show up; sometimes, at some of our distributions, we typically feed about 200 families, and then we’ll have double that amount show up,” McLain said. “It happens. And it’s happening more often, where we are running out of food just because we don’t know the average or what to expect anymore at our distribution sites.”

You can stop by the food bank from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Officials are encouraging people to come as soon as they can because the supply won’t last long.