DOUGLAS, Ariz. (KGUN) — Each month, the Douglas Area Food Bank partners with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona for free food distribution.
“They help a lot, whatever they give us,” said Douglas Resident, Otilia Roman.
Volunteers, mostly with the Douglas Area Food Bank, handed free food to people from the community on Monday morning. Organizers estimate they served more than 600 families.
“We usually do 300 to 400 but the line is really, really long,” said Junior Vice President for the food bank, Doris Ford.
Roman was one of the hundreds of people who received food on Monday. She said she's volunteered for the food bank in the past and has received food from them for 14 years.
"It really helps a lot, because... (prices) are real high now,” Roman said.
She said the free food allows her to use her limited income to pay her bills and the medicine her insurance doesn't cover.
“On your check, you have to stretch it to pay bills, because the bills are real high every month,” Roman said.
She says if it wasn’t for the volunteers she’d have to find other people to help her, like her family. But, that won't always work for her because they have their own responsibilities.
"Everybody have to work, everybody have family, and we can’t depend (on them)," Roman said. "It's a real nice thing Douglas is doing for us.”
Javier Fimbres, president of the Douglas Area Food Bank, said the increase in recipients isn't surprising.
“It's important because here on the on the border, there's a lot of needy people,” he said. “They all have a smile on their face and they'll say thank you, so that means a lot. That means people do care and people are thankful that we're we're providing the city with this type of atmosphere.”
The Douglas Area Food Bank had responded to the increased need, by adding weekly distributions out of their building on 7th Street.
----
——-
Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
