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Long lines during last day of PBC Food for Florida events

Posted at 7:08 PM, Oct 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-21 19:09:22-04

Long lines of cars and people continued on the last day of Food for Florida in Palm Beach County.

Around 5 p.m., PBSO cut off the traffic coming into John Prince Park so everyone already in line could be processed by the time the site closed.

DCF estimates five thousand people on average went through the John Prince Park Food for Florida site each day this week.

Those that qualified for help received EBT cards to make up for food lost during Hurricane Irma.

They waited in long lines to get that help though.

On Saturday, around 4 p.m., one woman just about to leave the site said she got in line with her car around 4 in the morning.

Another family said they joined the line of traffic around noon and waited four hours. They had preregistered online, so they didn't have to wait in as long of a line once they got into John Prince Park.

Charity Rosario said her family of six had to throw out a lot of food after being out of power from Hurricane Irma.

"They're actually helping us compensate for two months and me and my husband, we each work 50 hours a week and we're like the rest of america, living check to check, hoping for a better future for our kids, so this is really going to help us catch up," Rosario said.

Rosario complimented PBSO deputies on traffic control, including not allowing drivers to cut the line.

She and her husband also took a man into John Prince Park in their car who had been turned away because he was on foot. Pedestrians were not allowed into the John Prince Park site.

DCF plans to hold more Food for Florida events soon in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Those dates haven't been set yet, but people can find that information out when it's available at this link: http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/access/fff/siteLocations.shtml