PALM BAY, Fla. — Inflation, rising rent and soaring gas prices are hitting people hard, especially families, who are struggling to put food on the table.

What You Need To Know

  •  Meals were handed out to hundred at Hands for Healing food distribution event in Palm Bay 

  • Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida's online search that helps people find food pantries, jumped 12% from March to April

  • In Central Florida, one in seven adults and one in five children, experience hunger

Hundreds of meals were handed out to families in need at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and Hands for Healing food distribution event in Palm Bay on Tuesday.

Volunteers gave out produce and drinks while Sysco prepared meals of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots and dinner rolls.

Aidinette Paulino was first in line — her family includes three children and two grandparents, and she even helps her neighbors, and she said the food she received Tuesday would make a big difference.

"We don't get help, we don't get assistance," said Paulino. "It's a blessing."

During a recent trip to the grocery store, Paulino had only $60 to spend.

She, like many Floridians, is being impacted by inflation, high gas prices and rent hikes.

"I only came out with two little bags. Milk, eggs and just the basic stuff, it's ridiculous," Paulino said. "Inflation is taking everything else."

"Sticker shock at the supermarket, all the things," said Second Harvest's Erika Spence, who said her group's online search — which helps people find food pantries near their homes — jumped 12% from March to April.

"Twelve percent is about a thousand people," she said. "We started the month around 5,300 searches and ended with 6,000 searches. It's a huge number."

Statistics show that on any given day in Central Florida, one in seven adults, and one in five children, experience hunger, and food distribution events like this one let Paulino breathe a little easier.

"It gives me peace of mind to be able to go home and feed my family," she said.

​Second Harvest also is doing a summer feeding program where they take meals to low-income neighborhoods, community centers and parks to help children who are out of school.