QUINCY — Volunteers from Army and Air Force National Guard directed the line of traffic backed all the way out to First Avenue Southwest in Quincy on Monday afternoon for the Second Harvest Inland Northwest Mobile Market.

The food distribution was sponsored by Dell EMC and Quincy Community Health Center, just across the street from the mobile market’s location. Meal distributions were prepared for up to 300 families, with various dry goods, dairy products and meats being distributed. Volunteers were able to give away most of the donations before the event was even scheduled to end at 1 p.m.

Reagran Lara, nutrition education manager with Second Harvest’s location in Pasco, was at the head of the Mobile Market in Quincy on Monday. Lara said the need for assistance from families is “immense” right now and hopes to be able to come back to the area a few more times this year.

Lara said there’s a large number of families in this part of Central Washington that have been severely affected by COVID-19. She said they’re working at Second Harvest to do what they can to offer support.

“Anything we can do, we’re ready to go,” Lara said. “As long as we’re invited, we’ll come. The big thing is to have a location and have somebody let us be here, that’s the biggest hurdle that we’ve found.” Food donations come through partners from Feeding America, sponsors of more than 200 food banks around the nation, including Second Harvest Inland Northwest. While they don’t have a set date to return just yet, Lara said they’ll be back in the area as soon as possible.

Mary Jo Ybarra-Vega, Outreach and Behavioral Health Coordinator for Quincy Community Health Center, said they had intended on hosting this event earlier in the year, but were forced to cancel when the county shifted back to Phase 1.

Ybarra-Vega said she feels “blessed” to be able to help offer something like this for the community at this time. She said she’s also hoping they’re able to bring the Mobile Market back again in a few weeks.

“We have tons of people that will drive up from Soap Lake, Ephrata, Mattawa, Royal City, they’ll drive up here for a box of food,” Ybarra-Vega said. “That’s how tough things are for some people. I think it’s just really needed more than anything right now. There’s a lot of people that haven’t been working, and I think they’re very grateful.”

With school returning shortly, she said there’s a lot of stress on people’s minds right now. Ybarra-Vega said she’s heard a lot of parents discuss finding out how expensive it can be with children at home all the time already this summer.

“There’s a lot of food being consumed in the house, where maybe two meals would have been happening at school,” Ybarra-Vega said. “That’s a burden that people don’t think about, especially if you’re not a family especially in need. I’ve had people tell me ‘I didn’t know what I was going to eat today, this is the last thing of macaroni left.’”

For people facing these struggles to be able to show up and see steaks and milk being distributed, she said it hopefully eases that burden a bit. Quincy Community Health Center employees also distributed fresh masks to people coming by as well.

Normally, she said an army of volunteers would be working to help distribute food at the Mobile Market. This year, there was no need with Second Harvest Inland Northwest bringing a “literal army” with volunteers from the Army and Air Force National Guard out of Pasco.

Sergeant Emmanuel Torres, from Pasco, said they’ve been working with Second Harvest since about May after the food bank saw a surge in donations it was unable to handle on its own. Torres said they’ve been helping with at least three mobile distributions a week.

Getting called up to action in his own community is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, Torres said.

“We don’t get activated to help, or be directly in contact with the community, unless it’s like a forest fire, or flash flooding,” Torres said. “This is a rare, unique opportunity for us to be out here, so we’re grasping on to it and we’re out here persevering.”