There was a huge turnout at a Baton Rouge Church for a "drive-thru" grocery giveaway Saturday morning.

Drivers lined up to receive a free box of groceries at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Church.

"It's a blessing especially when you have children at home, and they eat a lot," said Sharon Roberts.

The event benefits families like Robert's, who's livelihoods were impacted by the pandemic.

"We're all in need. We were cut with our regular hours, and the funding's just been short," said Roberts.

The Greater Food Bank of Baton Rouge donated 800 boxes of food to the church to help those in need."

Councilwoman Tara Wicker said, "The food bank had volunteers that came in and filled all the boxes. There's everything from spaghetti, rice, canned goods. There's even some candy in there for the kids."

Wicker helped organize the event.
She says hundreds of people signed up to receive food boxes.

"Particularly we're focusing in on the contract workers, the gig workers, the hospitality workers, those 1099 workers that we know don't fit into the normal system. They're the ones that we're finding out are being left out of the process."

It's a labor of love, she says she hopes to continue to spread throughout the community.

"We wanted to take today as an opportunity to say hey, you're not forgotten about. We do recognize that the system has not been set up to accommodate you, but we can do our part to make sure you and your families are taken care of."