INDEPENDENCE, Ky. — Jake Stremmel is the director of Generations Food Pantry. He spent his Saturday helping load up cars with food and said inflation has led to an uptick in people seeking food.

People could pick up the food drive-thru style at Generations Church in Independence. Stremmel said they’ve been doing this for years, and are noticing another uptick in people needing food.

“Gas is at 4 dollars a gallon and people are pinching pennies and trying to find ways to make ends meet, so we’ve seen a slight uptick since January,” he said.

All walks of life come through each time Generations Church holds its drive—serving a mixture of regulars and newcomers each time as well.

Among the people waiting in line inside their vehicle this weekend were Ron Powers and his family. Powers is a regular and comes out to grab some food whenever they can. He said it’s a tremendous help with grocery prices and inflation.

“Prices are getting scary. You almost can’t afford to eat anymore, so when you come to something like this it really helps you make it through and it gets you there,” Powers said.

Powers and others are getting produce, dairy and other types of food loaded into their cars free of charge.

“This is food that restaurants are throwing away and it’s perfectly good stuff, so we’re able to salvage a lot. Some of it came from UDF and other places like that,” Stremmel said.

Stremmel said they’ll gladly take volunteers from 8 to 11 a.m. every third Saturday for this event as well.