PHOENIX — Hundreds of Arizonans showed up at the Mesa Convention Center for United Food Bank's annual Thanksgiving Food distribution on Wednesday.
This year, the Arizona Cardinals and State Farm Insurance matched donations and provided the United Food Bank with $50,000.
"Just a couple of years ago, I think the United Food Bank was serving about 90,000 people every single month, and this month is gonna be 130,000," Jason Reed, CEO of the food bank said. "The need has grown tremendously, and more people are coming to local food pantries seeking support for food."
Victoria Vasquez, an Arizonan, said her family had experienced unexpected health struggles this year.
"It's been a hard year for us, my mom has been sick," Vasquez said. "So Thanksgiving is going to fall on us to cook for her."
Jennifer Chiren, another Arizonan, said she was frustrated about food prices and asked "When the holidays come, how do you feed your kids?"
"I'm a single mom with 3 children and I work 110 hours a week [with] no child support," Chiren said. "We just got our food stamps cut and my health insurance cut because they said we make so much money ."
Chiren said she's typically a "very prideful person" and doesn't ask for help, but said she had to for her children.
"It's one of those things where you grit and you grind and you do it," Chiren said. "It's ok. And when you look at your children, asking for help is not that hard because we all need it, especially right now."
Reed said they have a list of 120 food pantry partners for those who missed the Thanksgiving food distribution.
The organization's Christmas food distribution will be on Dec. 20 at the Mesa Convention Center.
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