ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Central Florida's largest food bank is getting a boost from a $1-million donation to help with the demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Workers and volunteers at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida are working quickly to keep up with the increased demand during the pandemic.

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“It’s just unbelievable,” said CEO of Second Harvest food bank Dave Krepcho. 

 Krepcho says they have ramped up distributions in a big way.

“Our partners were feeding about 400,000 different people each year. I bet the number of people in need could be double that,” Krepcho said.

And that bigger demand is a bigger drain on the non-profit’s wallet.

“We had a lot of thoughts about, you know, are we going to be able to afford to be able to do this kind of relief effort,” Krepcho said.

That is until they got a recent donation, a much bigger one than usual.

“This $1.2-million donation through the Central Florida Foundation is a really big deal,” Krepcho said.

President of the Central Florida Foundation Mark Brewer says that million is to keep Central Floridians from going hungry.

“$800,000 of it went to really handle the cost of food, which is rising dramatically,” Brewer said.

“We can stay focused on the mission, and not have that concern of ‘Wow, can we do this for the next 90 days?” Krepcho said.

Brewer says the donor did not just mean to keep them afloat now though.

“Let’s make an investment to see if long term, we can change the course of the business model, as we move through COVID-19 and maybe have to deal with it again,” Brewer said.

A few hundred thousand dollars of the donation is going to fund new ways to get food to people, like Second Harvest Food Banks’s direct delivery program, which partners with ride share businesses to get meals to seniors and other who cannot leave their homes.

“Some of this innovation will live on beyond the pandemic,” Krepcho said.

That way the food bank can keep people fed in this new normal.