(Natural News) Thousands showed up on Tuesday, August 11, at Fair Park in Dallas as volunteers from the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) distributed around 10,000 boxes of food.

People had begun lining up before sunrise hoping to get boxes containing canned goods, noodles, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, rice, trail mix and some recipe ideas, according to recent reports from CBS Dallas.

The line reached more than a mile long as about 8,000 people came for the NTFB's fourth food drive since the pandemic was declared in March. The NTFB planned to distribute enough food to support 2,000 families.

It was also the organization's first distribution effort that offered a new walk-up option for hundreds of families and individuals without transportation.

Unemployed Americans turn to food banks

The long lines came after almost 30 million of the 249 million Americans polled last month said they "didn't have enough to eat," and another 5.4 million reported they "often" did not have sufficient food.

One man showed up after his daughter had told him about the drive. "With unemployment benefits cut, her husband's been laid off for three months. So, it's just been a struggle," Richard Archer told CBS Dallas.

"There's times I open the refrigerator and there's little there," said Diana King. "We make do with what we have and we make it stretch." King said she made the trip to save on food.

Others who showed up at the event had even driven from across Texas. "I came this far just to get the help," said Rene Hightower, who lives in West Dallas.

Organizers see no indication that the food assistance will no longer be needed in the near future. "When stimulus checks hit, we saw a decrease," said NTFB's government relations director Valerie Hawthorne.