The Santa Maria Elks Lodge is closed temporarily due to a reported COVID-19 case.
They have been distributing food on a weekly basis to families in need but now that will have to stop temporarily, causing the local food bank to shift gears.
What would be a busy parking lot on Thursday will now be empty this week.
Those with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County say they had to think of other ways to distribute the food.
"While Elks is going to be shut down temporarily, we are going to refer everybody to the Allan Hancock [College] distribution that's held on Thursdays as well," said Jamie Diggs, Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.
The food bank says distribution sites closing due to the pandemic hasn’t been an issue and they are grateful distribution centers like Hancock College have stepped up to help.
"We feel like we are very prepared. Considering that someone did test positive at the Elks we know that we are going to see an influx of people,” said Stephanie Robb, Director of Student Activities & Outreach at Allan Hancock College.
"I will definitely be increasing the amount of food that Hancock would be getting on Thursday,” Diggs added.
College officials say they typically see about 600 cars a day at food distributions.
"We know how valuable this food is to all the members of our community that rely on this food so we are excited to be able to provide this service to our community,” Robb said.
According to a Facebook post by the Elk's Lodge, they will be closed through at least the end of the week, stating their priority is to make sure they can reassess and open back up when it's safe to do so.
Allan Hancock College will hold its drive-through food distribution this Thursday starting at 11 a.m.
A list of other food distribution sites can be found here:
