Thousands of food insecure residents in Southern California turn out for distribution event in Panorama City

PANORAMA CITY (KABC) -- It's an unfortunate sign of the times: a food distribution event in Panorama City draws a massive crowd, and there is no indication that the need is going to diminish any time soon. The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has partnered with civic and government groups to distribute tons of food for the food insecure.

"Everything's really bad right now. We're just trying to survive right now," said Thomas Ascencio from Pacoima. "There's a lot of people out of work right now. My wife's out of work because of the pandemic that's going on right now."

The LA Regional Food Bank says they are expecting even more people will be needing this help.

"When the pandemic hit we were, our distribution there was an increase of over 80 percent compared to last year. When businesses reopened-it went down to 70 percent. Now we're back at over 80 percent again so we're expecting the demand to continue," said Hilda Ayala from the LA Regional Food Bank.

'You know these are people who are barely getting by; who are living paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic. So now they're falling further and further behind. It's the working poor that we should be worried about," said LA City Council President Nury Martinez.

The LA Regional Food Bank isn't anticipating a shortage of food to give away. What they are anticipating in the months to come is an increase in need.