Organization distributes food to sick people 4:29
(CNN Spanish) -
It is a cold Saturday morning in the city of Sandy Springs, in the state of Georgia.
Virginia Larumbe arrives very early, in good spirits and wearing her protective mask, ready to line up for two hours to receive free supplies and food.
Larumbe, originally from Acapulco, Mexico, says her family has been enduring the economic crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic for weeks.
“They have been very difficult days.
I have also asked for help to pay my rent and there we take it, little by little, we are surviving with the pantries ”, assures this mother, who lost her job three months ago as an assistant in a Mexican food restaurant in Atlanta.
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She adds that her husband worked at the same place as her and was also fired due to the drastic drop in sales.
Since then, Virginia Larumbe has gone twice a week to seek help with her pantry.
Virginia Larumbe's home is one of more than 13,000 that organizers say have benefited from the “Solidarity Food Pantry” program in the city of Sandy Springs since March.
Once their temperature is taken, those people who do not register fever file into a room where a group of volunteers is filling their bags with essential items, such as chicken, eggs, salt, flour, beans and rice.
They also offer them some toiletries, such as detergent for washing dishes.
According to the volunteers, the families who come for help are mostly Hispanic.
Food donations
The pantry operates in a commercial premises temporarily assigned by a supermarket chain and is open to the public on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
The young Ángel González is one of the volunteers of the “Solidarity Food Pantry” program.
He says he likes to see people happy and children smiling.
It gives you great satisfaction to know that you are going home and that you have something to eat.
This program is funded by cash donations and products delivered by some supermarkets.
Beneficiaries also have the option of depositing money in a basket to help with the program.
If that day went well or they had a job, they leave up to $ 20 in the basket, says Toren Anderson, one of the directors of "Solidarity Food Pantry."
A lady waiting for a taxi with her bags full says spontaneously, and with a broken voice: "I am very grateful to the people who donate food here for us, God bless you."
Virginia Larumbe and her husband are among the millions of people in the United States who, two new studies released last week show, have fallen into poverty after losing their jobs in recent months.
However, social programs like "Solidarity Food Pantry" allow them to survive in the midst of this crisis.
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