Hundreds of vehicles passed through the Salvation Army’s free food distribution drive-thru Saturday at Ala Moana Center, where eggs, bread, milk and potatoes were being handed out to thousands in need.
After the food line opened about 10 a.m. a line of cars wrapped around the inside of the shopping center’s parking lot and stretched down Kapiolani Boulevard past Ward Avenue, forming a line more than a mile long in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed the lives of nine people, sickened 486 and sent shock waves through the Hawaii economy.
The new coronavirus has left thousands of Hawaii residents without jobs as non-essential businesses shut down.
“There’s a lot of families who have been laid off,” said Salvation Army Maj. Jeff Martin, division leader of the organization’s Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Division. “This is unprecedented because we have so many people out of work right now because the economy shut down.”
About 90 volunteers helped hand out the donated food — about 2,200 gallons of fresh milk, 4,300 dozen eggs, 3,000 loaves of bread and 5,000 pounds of Maui harvest potatoes.
Video by Craig T. Kojima
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