‘I just pray for every household’: Local food pantry running low on supplies due to increased demand

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — These days, Lutheran Social Services’ food pantry on Philips Highway is busier than ever.

As gas prices soar amid record inflation, LSS can barely keep up as more Northeast Florida families are coming in for help.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

A grandmother who wanted to stay anonymous spoke to Action News Jax as she was coming in for her box of food Friday.

She says rising gas prices, inflation and a high cost of living is making it almost impossible to survive.

“It’s a lot, it’s a lot,” she said. “I just pray for every household here and there and far.”

Read: Jacksonville man accused of beating woman at convenience store now facing felony charge

LSS is one of only a few food pantries in Jacksonville that’s open five days a week.

“We have seen need increase so much, before the pandemic we were probably serving 40 or 50 households a day. When the pandemic hit at the height, that doubled, and we’ve only seen an increase since then,” Jennifer Barrett with LSS said.

Barrett says about a third of the folks coming in for food are new to the pantry -- and this is their first time asking for help.

LSS is seeing about 17% more need than this time last year, Barrett added.

Read: ‘He treated her like a rag doll’: Grandmother reacts to new report on school fight

On Friday, LSS told Action News Jax it expected to give out around 100 boxes of food to families; that number of people in need is only rising, the service says.

While Action News Jax crews were there, volunteers even worried the pantry would run out of food.

LSS is asking for the community’s help. Some of the most-needed food items are non-perishables like peanut butter and jelly, canned meats, canned vegetables, soup, mac-n-cheese, ramen noodles, canned and dried fruits, Chef Boyardee, pasta and pasta sauce, mashed potatoes, cereal and Pop-Tarts, rice and granola bars.

To the grandmother Action News Jax spoke to, she says life would be much harder if it weren’t for food pantries.

Read: New information on how investigators linked two separate murder cases to one man

“It gets hard, but I have to keep my faith,” she said. “I’m hoping we all just continue to pray; prayer warriors out there, hang in there, we just hang in there.”

LSS’ food pantry is located at 4615 Philips Hwy. between University and Emerson. The food pantry is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to noon, and has extended hours Tuesdays from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.