The First Baptist Church's food pantry had its busiest day ever on Thursday, as residents coping with recent unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic came out en masse seeking help.

From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., the church, located at 408 N. Arthur Ave., gave away food boxes for 322 families, or roughly 1,400 people. Rather than allowing the public inside the building, volunteers loaded up trunks and rear seats of vehicles waiting in a long line stretching throughout the Union Pacific parking lot in Old Town.

One woman picking up food somberly admitted to Associate Pastor Karl Pettit, "I never thought I would be in a position like this where I would be the one who needed the help."

Pettit was also deeply moved by an elderly woman who didn't need the food for herself but took home three boxes to give to neighbors, including one who had recently lost work. Pettit said several others also requested food boxes for neighbors.

"That tells you something about the heart of our community," Pettit said.

Unemployment claims have increased at record levels, both in Idaho and nationally, as people practice social distancing to avoid exposure to coronavirus. The Idaho Department of Labor reported 13,341 new claims for unemployment insurance benefits were filed during the week of March 15 to 21, representing a 1,200% increase from the prior week. During the week, a record 3.3 million Americans filed for benefits, surpassing the previous record of 695,000 set in 1982, according to national media reports.

Pettit expects 400 families will use the pantry's service next Thursday.

The church's food bank has lost a key supply of donations recently. Typically Pettit said about 10 area grocery stores donate unsold inventory before it expires. Demand at grocery stores has been up substantially as people have stocked up on supplies for prolonged stays at home, however, and Pettit said stores have had nothing to donate.

"They were heartbroken," Pettit said of the grocery store officials.

The good news, Pettit said, is that School District 25 donated about 3,000 pounds of food products, especially produce and dairy products, that would have otherwise gone to waste while students started an early spring break, intended to curb the spread of coronavirus. He said other food banks also benefitted from school district donations.

Pettit said his food bank and other area food banks are now in discussions about cooperating on centralizing food distribution and taking other steps to work together and make certain everyone who needs food can access it.

"If we're going to be the hands and feet of the God we follow, then the church needs to step up and meet the needs," Pettit said. "It's really the opportunity for the church to step up to be what it was called to be."

Larry Fisher, regional public affairs director of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the church learned this week Southeast Idaho has been approved to receive a semi-trailer filled with food. The local Idaho Foodbank warehouse will receive the load and distribute it to other food banks.

Fisher said Mark Gibson, president of the community's Central Stake, and Wayne Goodworth, the church's area self reliances manager, made the request for the food, which should arrive in about a month.

"They've got semis going out everyday out of the storehouse in Salt Lake City," Fisher said.

Fisher said there's growing concern about maintaining adequate supplies of food into the future.

"There's a lot more demand for food requests from the church right now," Fisher said.

Gate City Pantry, affiliated with Gate City Christian Church, 202 W. Siphon Road, Chubbuck, has also experienced record demand recently for food donations. They serve customers at their church parking lot every Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The pantry served about 250 families — or more than 760 individuals — on March 20, said director Mackenzie Gorham. Nowadays, the pantry's volunteers ask customers to remain in their cars, and place pre-filled food boxes directly into trunks to minimize contact.

"We used to have them come inside and they would select their own food," Gorham said. "With the virus we've had to remove a little bit of that choice, but we still have food."

Gorham has limited her volunteer teams to groups of no more than 10, who work far apart in the parking lot.