- (speaking in Spanish) - [Dara] Every week this is where you'll find Guadalupe Montoya eating a home cooked meal with her husband and daughters.
- (speaking in Spanish) - [Dara] For Montoya, having a full plate of food is something she doesn't take for granted because there was a time when she couldn't afford it.
- I came here when I was 12 years old and I am from Mexico.
- [Dara] Montoya remembers the pain of coming to the United States in 1979 and watching her single mother struggle to provide for her and her five siblings.
She says it's a hardship that many immigrants are still facing.
- Sometimes they don't have someone can help them because they just came from another countries and they don't have nothing to start here.
- [Dara] So instead of standing by watching people go hungry Montoya decided it was time for her to help feed others free of charge.
- I start in 2004.
I find this lady outside of the insurance office that she was receiving groceries from Metrolina Food Bank.
She told me to get whatever I want.
So I got some groceries bags and I make like about 15 bags of groceries and I start giving away to people that was in need.
- [Dara] What started with just a few people almost 20 years ago has now turned into cars aligning the block for at least a mile on WT Harris Boulevard to get the food Montoya gives away at the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
- Today I got for the free food 'cause I'm struggling.
So this place is wonderful.
- [Dara] Lana, an immigrant from Ukraine is someone you'll see at the food bank every week loading her car.
She tells me she was living a good life until unexpected family issues stopped everything, even her education.
- Last eight or nine months I have to be here 'cause my mama 81, she's sick, and I just cannot leave her.
- [Dara] Lana isn't alone in her battle to feed her family.
- In our 24 county region, we have 14 counties in North Carolina and then we dip down and cover most of the upstate of South Carolina.
There are close to 500,000 people living at or below the poverty level.
Over 150,000 of those are children.
Over 50,000 of those are seniors.
- [Dara] Kay Carter, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina tells me these numbers are alarming and they push her organization to continue partnering with people like Montoya.
- And so most of the families that we deal with are working many times they're working multiple jobs but they're just not earning enough to take care of everything they need to take care of.
So any crisis creates a problem.
- [Dara] For Nicole Rivera who moved to the US from the Dominican Republic, she remembers how not having enough money put her family in a bind.
- We didn't have enough to like live comfortably.
So they told us about this food bank and like, I don't know they welcomed us so easily.
They were like, oh, like you guys can like help out here.
And they would give us food.
- [Dara] And the same way Montoya's Food Bank provided for her family, Rivera has been paying it forward every week for almost three years, filling up cart after cart as a volunteer with the group.
- It feels really good 'cause you feel like you're blessing others and you don't really expect anything in return.
- [Dara] With inflation causing more than just food prices to rise, Montoya says they're also giving out other essential items too.
- Some people come and ask for diapers, toilet papers, towels, hand towels, laundry soap.
Even if it's not the day that we give away, during the weekend, there's people that need and they always call the director or call me.
- [Dara] Even after being in the US for almost 45 years and creating a better life for herself and her family, Montoya says the hardship she faced when she first arrived will always remind her that every person she helps and every meal she eats is a blessing.
For "Carolina Impact," I'm Dara Khaalid.