CLEARWATER, Fla. — Three times a week, pallets of food come off refrigerated trucks onto the driveway of Countryside Christian Church’s Helping Hands food pantry.

What You Need To Know

  • A survey from Farm Share says Floridians are turning to cheaper, less healthy options when it comes to food — and rising costs are to blame 

  • One local food pantry, Helping Hands in Clearwater, says it's seen a significant rise in people needing their services over the last year

  • Despite rising costs, Helping Hands works to make sure its food remains as nutritious as possible for people needing meals for the week

It’s a double-edged sword for Elizabeth Elka, Helping Hand’s director, to see a long line of cars waiting for food.

“It's heartbreaking,” Elka said. “But we're so thankful that we have the food to be able to feed them.”

She’s been the director for a couple years now, zooming around helping volunteers any way she can to make sure this well-oiled machine is kept running smoothly.

“I don't want somebody to open the trunk of their car and what we want to be a blessing to them is a bunch of ‘yuck,’” Elka said.

She loves what she does but says over the last year, it’s been tough to see more people need their services just to put food on the table.

“We've had a 50% increase in the last year,” Elka said. “We were running at about 100 to 120 and now, we're on average 200 families per day.”

Just this week she says they normally get two of these trucks full of food to give out. This week they’ve gotten at least three.

But quantity here isn’t sacrificing quality.

Even though a recent survey says most Floridians are moving away from healthier items because they’re more expensive, at Helping Hands, nutrition still takes center stage.

“They'll get fruit, they'll get vegetables,” Elka said. “We try to put enough ingredients in to make a full salad. Plus, getting about 5 to 7 pounds of frozen meat.”

Which is a huge deal for families that are deciding where to spend their money.

“They're sacrificing food for medication,” Elka said. “They're sacrificing food for, you know, the inflation price.”

Last month’s consumer price index showed an over 3% rise in prices compared to last year, with food prices being nearly 5% more than they were in July of 2022.

It makes the boxes of produce crucial for families in line at Helping Hands.

“We try to give enough food to prepare at least two or three meals, at least two or three days’ worth of meals for our families,” Elka said.

It’s a goal that means a lot to Elka because before she was director, she was one of the people needing this food.

“You don't want people to have to be experiencing those things,” she said. “You want people to have abundant living and not have to worry about where their next meal is going to come from.”

Despite the heat and the long line of cars, these volunteers come out every chance they can to provide a bit of comfort to people who worry about rising prices.

Elka says the work doesn’t stop as another fully packed truck backs in to be unloaded.

Helping Hands does three food distribution events each week. It receives food from Feeding Tampa Bay and does these events from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Countryside Christian Church in Clearwater.