Rexburg Mobile Food Pantry creates a drive-thru food distribution event

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Normally more than a hundred volunteers at the Rexburg Mobile Food Pantry help families in an indoor setting get food for their needs. On Wednesday, only 10 volunteers were pre-screened, trained, and in full protective gear to help with the distribution.

“We're hoping that everybody comes in is honest about picking up for what they need, and if they don't need it. We're asking you not to come at this time. This isn't a time to bulk up on your food storage or beef up your pantry. This is a time for people who are food insecure at this moment to put some food on the table for their family," said Rexburg Mobile Food Pantry's, Jessica Goudy.

In a drive-through fashion, cars are drove in a line to pick up a box of food that was pre-prepared by small groups at the Idaho Food Bank. The small numbers in volunteers was to comply with the CDC regulations and keep everyone safe.

Families were instructed to open and close their doors, so the volunteer just had to place the box of food in their car.

To help those who are sick but still food insecure, the pantry allowed cars take an extra box for a family in need if they knew of one.

“Rexburg, Madison County, has one of the highest poverty rates, if not the highest poverty rate in the state of Idaho, and so it's community members who find ways of getting food into the hands of their friends and neighbors that you don't have to qualify for," Goudy said.

450 boxes were prepared and handed out.