Dozens of families lined up on Thanksgiving to get a hot plate of food from volunteers in San Mateo County.
The same can be said at other distribution centers across the Bay Area as a growing number of families are in need during the holiday season. Reasons include pandemic-related benefits ending and families struggling to keep up with soaring food prices.
"A lot of folks who have been really working at the bottom of the economic ladder are not yet fully employed if they're even employed yet," said Bart Charlow, Samaritan House CEO.
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Charlow said his organization is seeing a 30% jump in need this year when compared to the same time last year, which at the time was a record level.
"We're expecting to have this kind of economic stress going on for another year to 18 months at least," Charlow said.
Volunteers across the region are seeing it too and have been doing their best to help close the gap caused by what seems to be a never ending pandemic.
