Uptick in clients

Rev. Edwin Quintana meets with volunteer Marjie Farrington during a regularly scheduled food distribution at His Compassion Food Bank in northeast Ocala on Nov. 4. An official with the food bank said 490 families received a 50-pound batch of groceries, representing a 35 % increase over last month. [Photo by Andy Fillmore]

His Compassion Food Bank in northeast Ocala saw a big jump in turnout on Nov. 4 for a regularly scheduled food distribution during the ongoing SNAP benefits pause.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, is the nation’s largest anti-hunger program. Benefits are typically issued at the start of each month to help low-income individuals and families buy groceries. In late October, the Florida Department of Children and Families warned that the federally funded program would not issue November 2025 benefits until federal funding is restored. The program is administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, whose funding has been disrupted by the current government shutdown.

The food bank, an outreach of Wings of Faith Fellowship Church of Ocala, is located at 2000 NE 78th St.

Rev. Dale Broom, global outreach pastor at Wings of Faith, said 490 families received groceries valued at $96 on Nov. 4 and that the number represented a 35% increase over October figures.

Broom said recipients were not asked about getting SNAP food benefits, but His Compassion has had numerous calls and in-person inquires related to the pause.

“I would say most of the 35% increase would have been because of the SNAP (pause) or fear of lack of food because of all of the new pressure on local food sources,” Broom wrote in a text.

On Tuesday, volunteers loaded groceries into recipients’ cars. Each 50-pound family batch included meat, produce, bread and dessert.

Tiffany was driving a van through the food distribution line.

“This is helpful … tremendous,” she said.

At one point, a car line stretched perhaps half a mile south from Northeast 78th Street on the east shoulder of Northeast Jacksonville Road. Volunteers Bob Force and Earl Autry directed traffic and kept the line moving into a large open field and off NE Jacksonville Road. The lot filled at least twice.

Volunteers Shaun Washington, Marjie Farrington and Joy Autry scurried about to keep up with the number of people driving through.

For more information, go to hiscompassionflorida.org

– Cars fill a lot adjacent to His Compassion Food Bank on Nov. 4, 2025, during a regularly scheduled food distribution, which saw a 35 % increase over last month. [Photo by Andy Fillmore]