Miami Beach Walk Up Food Distribution Site Helps Families In Need
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A walk-up food distribution in Miami Beach on Tuesday morning gave families in need another option to pick up supplies.
"I've been doing food distributions, this is week 18, this is the first time we've tried a walk-up," said Miami Beach Commissioner David Richardson who hosted the food distribution along with Feeding South Florida at 7501 Collins Avenue.
Within roughly an hour and a half, volunteers had handed out more than 600 salad kit boxes to families who may not have cars but are still struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"The salad boxes that you see coming off the truck are part of a federal program that was started in the month of June," said Commissioner Richardson. "It was only going to be the month of June, and then the federal government extended it for six weeks. So, I've been getting two truckloads of these boxes every week."
When families and individuals arrived to the parking lot distribution on Tuesday morning, they were then handed a voucher to collect one or more of the salad boxes.
Mariano Fernandez waited in Tuesday's line. He told CBS4 he lost his job working as a nightclub promoter because of the pandemic.
"It's very good, it's necessary," Fernandez said of the food his family received.
Commissioner Richardson said his walk-up distribution model is meant to not only give people another option but to help those who may be too worried to ask for aid.
"Quite frankly, it's an option where we're not checking anybody's IDs. So we're not checking to see if somebody's undocumented, we're not checking to see somebody's status in this country," said Commissioner Richardson. "We're just trying to help people."
Commissioner Richardson said he hopes to continue the walk-up distribution every other week on top of other drive-thru options in Miami Beach.
