DAVENPORT - Jessy Cerda and her four-year-old son Eric are picking out food for the week, this family came to Davenport after they were forced from their home in Corpus Christi, Texas after Hurricane Harvey.
She is thankful to have the Davenport Community Food Pantry, "sometimes we run out of food so fast and our go-to if I can't get the food together, I can come over here," said Cerda.
The Davenport Community Food Pantry is new in the Quad Cities, it opened just two months ago but already helps put food on the table for around 130 families each week.
"It's been phenomenal, such a rewarding experience, we've met so many cool people in the community, we get to help a lot of families," said Sarah McGlynn, Food Pantry Coordinator.
Most of the food on the shelves is thanks to a six week food drive at 17-schools involved in the Student Hunger Drive, it's the biggest donation every year to the Riverbend Food Bank.
"It's important we try to get the food back to all of those communities, so we try pretty hard to make that happen," said Mike Miller President/CEO Riverbend Foodbank.
The rallies for food ended weeks ago but the nearly half-million pounds of food collected by students continues to make an impact every day for neighbors in need.
"That's the best part, we get to see the direct product of all of our students hard work," said McGlynn.
For Jessy, this pantry has become much more than a place to get food.
"I love it, it makes me feel like there's joy still in the world because when we got hit in Texas everybody had scattered and everybody was all mad, nobody was coming together to help and as I see it here, everybody comes together to help out," said Cerda.
The Riverbend Food Bank is expecting to hit a record in November, 2017, they've already provided over one million meals this month.
