Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, Lake Cares Food Pantry and Publix teamed up for a food distribution event at the Lake County Fairgrounds Monday morning. In its fifth year, the distribution has been held in recognition of Hunger Action Month and Publix Serves Week.

The event began at 10am, but some people were lined up as early as 4am.

Lake Cares Executive Director Kelsey Gonzalez said the event, which has been in the works for about six months, was expected to serve about 550 households, but soon after it started, organizers realized the original truckload of food they brought in would not be enough to accommodate the overwhelming number of cars in the line.

That prompted a change of plans as arrangements were made for a second truck to keep food flowing to hundreds more families in need.

“We recognized it immediately, so we got on the phone to see what we could do and Second Harvest was able to send us a second truck,” says Gonzalez. “That has never happened in five years.”

Gonzalez estimated Monday’s total could reach between 1,200 and 1,500 households served.

“This is the biggest we’ve ever done,” she says.

The distribution included fresh corn, squash, potatoes, strawberries, grapes, chicken, pork, breakfast meats, bread, milk, water, beans, pasta and other shelf-stable foods. Anyone in need could participate regardless of where they lived.

Chelsea Rice, philanthropy officer for Second Harvest, says the turnout reflects a much larger issue across Central Florida, where food insecurity has been rising across Lake County, with one in seven people facing food insecurity and one in five children living in a food-insecure household.

“Hunger is a lot closer than many people realize,” Rice says. “It might be your co-worker or your neighbor in need of food. You just don’t know; it can really be anyone.”

Rice says people who need assistance beyond Monday’s distribution can also use Second Harvest’s Food Finder tool. By entering an address or ZIP code, users can find nearby feeding partners and information about when food is available.

For Umatilla resident Whitney Walding, the distribution is something she makes a point to attend each year.

“Once a year, this is the one thing that I actually do because I don’t like asking for help, but, you know, sometimes we just need a little bit,” Walding says. “Anything that we can get makes a big difference.”

For Shayla Waters, a mother of four, the help, already a blessing, came at an especially critical moment. She says an account connected to her cards had been hacked over the weekend, temporarily leaving her without access to money.

“Grocery shopping is not an option for probably the next 7 to 14 days,” Waters says. “This is my only option for food right now, so this will really help us.”

Leesburg resident Erin Shirley says the distribution also helps her family stretch its budget at a time when everyday expenses continue to add up.

“Everything is so expensive, gas, bills, groceries, so it actually helps a lot,” Shirley says.

More than 300 Publix associates from several Central Florida counties volunteered to unload and bag food, fill trunks and keep the long line moving.

Russell Hill, a Publix assistant store manager, says the annual event is one employees look forward to because the impact is immediately visible. Associates even held up signs asking for people to honk if they had a birthday coming up, and if so, they’d present balloons and a quick Happy Birthday song.

“We call this being Publix proud,” Hill says. “We feel our communities are definitely richer and able to provide for some of their needs because of events like this that we have.”

Hill says the turnout included Publix associates representing more than a dozen cities across several Central Florida counties.

“This is certainly the one event every year that I look forward to, because you can clearly see the need that we have in our communities,” Hill says.

Eustis Commissioner Willie Hawkins, who has attended the distribution for several years, says he had never seen a turnout like Monday’s.

“This has to be a record number of people,” Hawkins says. “When you have people that are showing up at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning, you know there’s a real need and that’s why we’re all here.”

“We’ll make sure that they have something to eat tonight.”