The city of Opa-locka was joined by Feeding South Florida and local churches in distributing fresh produce to people in need Tuesday.
”It’s definitely appreciated,” said Chris Banks, who came to the distribution. ”It came in handy right now.”
A line of cars led up to the old City Hall Tuesday, where one-by-one volunteers threw bags of food in the trunks of cars as people drove through without needing to get out of their cars. Mayor Matthew Pigatt emphasizing the importance of social distancing.
Pigatt says the city has more than 100 reported cases of COVID-19 in a city of more than 16,000 people.
“Right now, we are dealing with a major crisis with this coronavirus,” said Pigatt. ”There’s a lot of people who are unemployed that need food and we want to be there to stopgap to ensure people have fresh food during this time.”
There was enough food Tuesday to feed 1,500 families, according to the mayor. Pigatt says the city plans on doing a food distribution at least once a week until the crisis is over. He also says recipients don’t have to live in Opa-locka to get food.
”Stuff like this really helps to keep it going and so forth,” said Banks. “Let’s hope it all ends in a month. At least we can get back to normality.“
