Before the sun even rose, cars began lining up along Baldwin Park Boulevard, where drivers sat waiting patiently for their chance at free groceries when the distribution event began several hours later.<\/p>\n
Their sense of urgency was warranted. Volunteers started distributing supplies at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, and by 11:30 a.m. all 2,000 boxes were gone, according to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.<\/p>\n
Bumper-to-bumper traffic continued to line the surrounding streets, and scores of people were turned away empty-handed. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo know that people are lining up as early as 5 o\u2019clock in the morning, because it\u2019s that important to them, tells me that the need is just so great,\u201d said L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, \u201cand it\u2019s unfortunate that we don\u2019t have enough for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solis\u2019 office organized Wednesday\u2019s drive-through food distribution as part of a partnership launched last month with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to address growing food insecurity in her district.<\/p>\n
Although food insecurity is a longstanding problem in L.A. County, the issue has taken on new urgency as inflation nationwide has surged.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the U.S. government announced that the inflation rate had hit a three-year high in April<\/a> as the war on Iran raised the cost of energy. <\/p>\n Gas prices have spiked by more than $1.50 across the U.S. in just over two months, hitting a national average of $4.50 a gallon and an average of $6.15 a gallon in California, according to the American Automobile Assn. In April, grocery prices rose by 0.7%, the biggest one month jump<\/a> in nearly four years, as meat, dairy and produce all saw notable cost increases, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n The latest price jumps are putting additional pressure on the already strained budgets of many households \u2014 particularly working-class families, seniors relying on Social Security and those living on disability payments, said Michael Flood, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does feel like the pot is continuing to boil and slowly boiling over,\u201d said Flood.<\/p>\n The sudden loss of jobs and income during the pandemic thrust food insecurity into the spotlight in 2020, and there has been limited relief since then as the inflationary period following the pandemic shattered consumer price records across the nation, he said. <\/p>\n In January 2025, the food bank saw an uptick in demand when thousands of Angelenos were displaced by wildfires. This was followed by the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on immigration, which disrupted income for many families and businesses serving the immigrant community. <\/p>\n Then, in the last quarter of the year, the government shutdown led to a delay in the distribution of federal food aid<\/a>, continuing to increase demand for help putting groceries on the table.<\/p>\n