Outside St. Lucy\u2019s Church in West Long Beach, a line wrapped around the block, dozens of families clutching wagons, chairs, and hope.<\/p>\n
Some had been waiting since dawn, but for many, including Vanessa Lopez, the wait ended in heartbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have no food,\u201d said Lopez as she was last in line, hoping to get a box of food during the Thursday distribution. \u201c(I will take) whatever they give us.\u201d<\/p>\n
But they arrived too late; only those who received numbers earlier in the morning were helped with handouts.<\/p>\n
The Lopez family was determined not to leave empty-handed and looked around for what was left.<\/p>\n
Her mother\u2019s eyes turned to the trees growing along the churchyard wall. Within minutes, they were reaching for fruit, the only food they\u2019d find that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody has family\u2026 and we all got to eat,\u201d said Vanessa.<\/p>\n
Just a few feet ahead in line, Theresa Huckleby, a grandmother with a folding chair and a wagon, did get food. Huckleby arrived before sunrise, bundled in boots against the morning chill. Her shelves at home were empty, and with SNAP benefits halted, she had no choice but to show up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s four of us,\u201d Huckleby said. \u201cTwo adults and two grandchildren. We don\u2019t have the benefits of our SNAP card, so I\u2019m here to get help.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Huckleby, the wait paid off with a few cartons of eggs, some vegetables, and canned goods.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wait was worth it,\u201d she said. But as she filled her wagon, she couldn\u2019t ignore the faces walking away behind her, families empty-handed and hungry.<\/p>\n
For many, this was the first time they\u2019d ever stood in a food line. Some hid their faces and others whispered their names, ashamed but desperate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t get to prepare for this,\u201d Huckleby said. \u201cThis is a low blow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each week, St. Lucy\u2019s distributes food from Food Finders and community donations. But there\u2019s never enough. Only about 60 families were served that day, while dozens more left with nothing but hunger and heartbreak.<\/p>\n
With news that SNAP could restart by the end of the week, neighbors in Long Beach were optimistic, but cautious, knowing the politics involved.<\/p>\n
The Lopez family says they\u2019ll be back next Thursday. So will Huckleby, and likely hundreds more, and the trees outside St. Lucy\u2019s may bear the only fruit some families can find.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Outside St. Lucy\u2019s Church in West Long Beach, a line wrapped around the block, dozens of families clutching…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":361259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,18448,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-361258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-long-beach","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115506248695991825","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}