Nebraska National Guard Helps Distribute Food

Members of the Nebraska National Guard helped distribute food from the Food Bank of Lincoln Wednesday.

More than 200 vehicles, and some people on foot, lined up for the food distribution Wednesday in a parking lot at Lincoln High School in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In about an hour, members of the National Guard in green camouflage uniforms and masks passed out 400 pounds of hamburger, 500 pounds of strawberries, 2,700 pounds of fresh produce, along with ramen noodles, spaghetti, and vouchers for milk, bread and eggs.

Alynn Sampson of the Food Bank said it was busier than a similar event last month.

“People are worried. People don’t know what’s going to happen and so they’re happy – some people just have been driving around and saw it and they didn’t know this was happening. And so we want that. We want people to know that we’re here and we’re trying to meet everybody’s needs and hopefully food is one less thing that they have to worry about,” Sampson said.

Lt. Col. Chuck McWilliams said it was a great opportunity for Guard members to help out. “We’re having opportunities to support our state and local agencies with food bank support, but also with the mobile test sites, and then also in addition to that some ppe (personal protective equipment) distribution to the regional health agencies,” McWilliams said.