Drive-thru Food Giveaway Helps Hundreds Of Families In Costa Mesa

COSTA MESA (CBSLA) - Hundreds of cars lined up at the IKEA in Costa Mesa Saturday morning for boxes and boxes of food, diapers, and other free supplies.

Norma Juarez has a family of five to feed and said the weekly giveaway has been a band-aid for her family in a financially stressful year.

"These have helped me a lot with the pandemic," said Norma Juarez. "My husband hardly works, he only has a few hours, and I'm unemployed."

It is just one of eight weekly giveaways put on by the Power of One Foundation. The organization has now handed out more than 2.5 million boxes of food in Orange County since the pandemic began. There are no requirements to receive the food.

"When the pandemic hit us unemployment went from 2.8 to 18 percent almost overnight so our lines went from a couple of hundred families to thousands," said Shawnee Witt of the Power of One Foundation.

The giveaway at the IKEA on South Coast Drive in Costa Mesa happens every Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.