Food Bank RGV seeking volunteers for distribution events
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Food banks across the Rio Grande Valley are getting ready for an increase in clients, and they're looking for volunteers.
"We have a disaster going on with this shutdown," Food Bank RGV CEO Libby Saenz said.
The Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley is stretched to its limit. On Friday, there was a long line at a food distribution.
The food bank says the demand has doubled since the government shut down 30 days ago. As the need grows in the community, so does the demand for volunteers.
Ramiro Garza said he would rather put produce in someone's truck than sleep in.
"There's just a lot of need right now," Garza said.
The Food Bank RGV said they had four volunteers at their distribution event in Pharr Friday morning. The rest were staff pulled from the warehouse to help with the long line of people showing up for food.
A line that stretched down Cage Boulevard, reaching as far as Veterans Boulevard along Business 83.
The food bank says they're seeing double the amount of people than usual. They're feeding almost 180,000 people every week. As families feel the pressure, so does the food bank.
"This is unprecedented, we've never experienced this before," Saenz said.
Saenz said they'll continue distributions throughout the shutdown, but they can't do it alone.
"We need volunteers, we have a disaster going on with this shutdown, and we cannot make the bags, make our bags and stock our shelves fast enough," Saenz said.
Sign up to volunteer next week to help package food for distribution is already up. To volunteer, click here.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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