FarmShare, other agencies distribute 40K pounds of food to families in need

Hundreds of cars visit drive-thru food giveaway on Timuquana Road

Hundreds of cars visited the drive-thru food distribution on Timuquana Road. (WJXT)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – FarmShare and several other agencies teamed up Saturday morning to distribute thousands of pounds of food to help those in need. Hundreds of cars went through the drive-thru site at the Community Health Outreach on Timuquana Road.

Three trucks delivered more than 40,000 pounds of food. Car after car sharing their stories of how families are in need.

“If I don’t come and get it, my family suffers,” said Lisa Williamson, who was picking up food.

“I thank God. Our family needs it,” said Maria Brice. “It’s me, my husband, my nephew and I also have a 2-year-old granddaughter.”

Volunteers distributed food boxes filled with fruit, produce, dairy and meat.

Virginia Pillsbury with Community Health Outreach said usually on a Saturday, it sees 350 cars, but today they expected up to 1,000. Pillsbury said the need is continuously growing and last week alone they distributed 50,000 pounds of food.

“Well, some of these people are longtime clients who we know. We see them. They live in our community and some it’s their first time in a food line because they lost their job because of COVID and the stories are heartbreaking,” said Pillsbury.

Leighsha Johnson with FarmShare said a lot of people that she didn’t see previously in the last year are now actually showing up to their events.

“Hunger doesn’t have a face. We’re seeing all different classes all different walks of life being affected. Many people are without jobs, no matter what kind of field you work in,” said Johnson.

Johnson said organizations that typically do not work together are now all coming together with one goal -- to feed.

“It’s hard on everybody. It’s really hard. We just got to take it one day at a time,” said Izzy Cotes, who was picking up food.

The site opened right before 9 a.m. and ended around 11:15 a.m. when it ran out of food.

The organizations are asking for help in financial donations. If you would like to help you can do so at are asking for your help for financial donations if you would like to help you could visit CHOjax.org or farmshare.org or by texting ‘EAT’ to 41-444.