Wednesday, after a brief break for the holidays, Plano-based Minnie’s Food Pantry will reopen its doors again and they expect to serve hundreds of people a day.
“We anticipate there’s going to be a line of cars. Our phones have been ringing off the hook,” founder Cheryl Jackson said. “We could see 500 to 700 cars on Wednesday and that is probably going to be our norm.”
2020 saw the need in North Texas skyrocket as families faced layoffs, furloughs and a sluggish economy brought on by the pandemic.
“At the end of last year, we were in 700 to 1,000 [cars a day], because it was the Christmas holiday and people knew their kids would be home and everybody was just knocking on the door,” Jackson said. “At the beginning of the year we were only at 100 to 150 so to see 500 to 1,000 on a normal daily basis it got us.”
Jackson said Thanksgiving alone saw 4,000 families looking for help, but the need was there each day.
“My team went into a 6-day work week when the virus hit and they were exhausted. So, I was so thankful that I was able to give them a couple of days off to rest and recoup,” Jackson said. “But, I know that we are going to come in even stronger because this economy isn’t getting any better and people with the fear in their eyes is just sad.”
