LYNN — Citing growing traffic concerns, the Salvation Army has opted to temporarily move its Lynn food distribution site to Manning Field.
Anyone driving through downtown Lynn on weekdays has probably come across the line of cars heading into the Salvation Army’s food distribution site on Franklin Street.
With more than 600 families served on a daily basis, the line typically wraps around City Hall and is down by Lynn District Court on some days, which Salvation Army representatives say highlights the need in the city.
“With the cars lining up at the Lynn Corps Monday through Friday every week, we’ve all seen firsthand how the need is greater than ever,” said Salvation Army spokesperson Heather MacFarlane. “It’s still amazing to think that we went from serving around 60 families a day before the pandemic to more than 600.
“We’ve been working with the city of Lynn to find the new distribution site because we recognize that traffic has been a growing concern. Hopefully the new site will alleviate this.”
Since March, the Salvation Army has donated more than 12 million meals statewide, with 2.8 million of those meals in Lynn, which is the organization’s biggest food distribution area.
The service, which had already been the largest food pantry in Lynn, expanded in response to the coronavirus pandemic. And the Salvation Army projects that it could see an increase of up to 155 percent more people this holiday season, according to MacFarlane.
The new food-distribution site in the Manning Field parking lot was scheduled to open on Tuesday, but was pushed back to Wednesday due to anticipated rainy weather.
Hours will remain the same at the new location — the food pantry will be open from 1-4 p.m., Monday to Friday. Families are encouraged to arrive by car, but walkers will also continue to be accepted, Lynn Salvation Army Capt. Helen Johnson said.
Cars will be directed to enter through the stadium’s Ford Street entrance and exit onto Locust Street. The city is using Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to pay people to direct traffic, Johnson said, noting that unlike the former location, all traffic would be in the parking lot, rather than on the street.
“We just think it will be a lot better,” said Johnson. “There will be less traffic.”
The Salvation Army has been working with the city for the past month to find a new site, Johnson said, explaining that in addition to traffic concerns, the organization needed to free up the gym for after-school programming and its annual Item Santa drive.
“It’s still considered a temporary location,” said Johnson. Obviously, with the stadium, if they end up needing it in the spring, we’ll move back, but obviously in the winter, we’ll be there.”
Although people have started to return to work and lockdown measures have eased, the need is still there, Johnson said. As soon as the pandemic hit, the amount of families served by the food pantry spiked from 60 families to a day to about 500. Over the past couple of weeks, that daily average has increased even more, to about 600, she said.
“Even though people are back to work, there are still a lot of people that really suffered from the shutdown,” said Johnson. “With kids being home, they’re eating a lot more. It still can be a strain on families. Even when people have a job and a steady paycheck, it’s still so hard to get by.”
