A food distribution event in North Long Beach Saturday morning drew a line of cars that stretched longer than 2 miles.

People came as early as 4 a.m. for one of 3,000 boxes of food distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

The effort was organized by North Long Beach Councilman Rex Richardson, state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, labor organizations and the Los Angeles Food Bank.

Over 100 volunteers at 24 stations came to distribute the produce, frozen meats and other items at Jordan High School.

“There has been every family you can imagine here,” Gonzalez said, noting the high unemployment rates in North and West Long Beach.

“Many of them have two or three households living in one home,” she said, “we’re seeing a lot of that, so we give them to or three boxes.”

The country’s unemployment rate soared to 14.7% last month—the highest level on record.

Richardson later tweeted that volunteers had distributed 2,620 packages, which would have fed an estimated 10,480 people.

Officials with the food bank said they typically serve 300 to 500 families during food distribution events. Now its smallest distribution was 1,000 households, and its largest was 7,600 households at a recent event held at the Forum in Inglewood.

For a list of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, including food, click here.

Mary Basile marks off the number of persons per household on a clipboard that would normally be handed over for the person to sign their name and information at Jordan High School. Photo by Sarahi Apaez.
Union members, as well as unemployed and retired community members, were among the volunteers who distributed boxes of food to families of North Long Beach. Photo by Sarahi Apaez.
Union members, as well as unemployed and retired community members, were among the volunteers who distributed boxes of food to families at Jordan High School. Photo by Sarahi Apaez.
Mark Williams, a UPS driver still in his work uniform, showed up after his work shift to distribute food boxes to families along with fellow members of Teamsters National Black Caucus at Jordan High School. Photo by Sarahi Apaez.
Over 100 volunteers distributed boxes of food and directed traffic as cars made their way through the parking lot, by 11 a.m. the LA Food Bank had distributed food boxes to 200 cars at Jordan High School. Photo by Sarahi Apaez.
Cars lined up outside of the Jordan High School parking lot for two and a half miles with the first car showing up as early as 4:30 a.m. Photo by Sarahi Apaez.
Over 3,000 boxes of shelve items, frozen meat, and fresh produce were distributed to residents of North Long Beach and surrounding areas. Photo by Sarahi Apaez.
Boxes containing enough food to cook up to 40 meals were placed into the trunks of cars at Jordan High School. Photo by Sarahi Apaez.