FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WFFT) - 2020 has been a challenging one for the Community Harvest Food Bank.
So far they've served more than 112,000 residents.
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On Thursday, the U.S. Under Secretary Ted McKinney and Congressman Jim Banks toured the food bank to see how government funding is helping.
Once the state shutdown and COVID cases increased the volunteer numbers went down.
That's when the Indiana National Guard stepped in to distribute food.
"I'm told people show up as early as three hours prior for the distribution time. That's a powerful statement about how critical these free food products are for them," U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Affairs, Ted McKinney said.
Community Harvest Food Bank President Carmen Cumberland said they give out thousands of boxes weekly.
They've handed out more than 36,000 boxes since May 21.
"Doing these drive-thru distributions which we've never done before and packing boxes, we're packing upwards of 3,500 boxes a week just to meet our mobile distribution," Cumberland explained.
Cumberland said volunteers are slowly coming back so they're welcoming anyone who wants to volunteer to sign up.
