The rain gathered force Thursday morning just as the cars began lining up early, filled with families eager to pick up free boxes of food and milk.

Neither the rain nor the line of cars outside Fort Osage Middle School in Independence would stop before all 1,900 boxes of food and milk were given away.

“I saw people working really hard in the pouring rain,” said Jessica Lavigne of Independence, who was stunned by the size of the crowd of cars.

The line quickly extended nearly a mile from the pickup point in the school parking lot, snaking back through the campus out onto Missouri 7 and then down the ramp and backed up to the west onto U.S. 24.

The Fort Osage School District food service team, soaked in their slickers and masks, were hustling the cars through as pallet after pallet of food was brought under curbside canopies.

“You can tell times are hard and everyone needs help and is grateful,” Lavigne said.

The 20-pound boxes of fruit and vegetables and the gallon-jugs of milk came to Fort Osage as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box program.

The USDA bought up food and milk from produce farms and dairies that were in danger of going to waste during the COVID-19 supply-chain breakdowns. The agency is collaborating with non-profit organizations across the nation to distribute the food into communities.

The Fort Osage Education Foundation teamed up with Liberty Fruit Co. and Hiland Dairy to distribute food in northeast Jackson County. The distributions will continue weekly for six weeks, but the exact schedule going forward is still being determined.

Another distribution program will be happening Friday, May 29, at the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, 1710 Paseo Boulevard beginning at 11 a.m., with Liberty Fruit, the Prospect Urban Eatery, and Kanbe’s Market. The program will continue every Friday through July 3.

By early afternoon Thursday, Jennifer Brisbin was home with her box in Buckner, using cream cheese in the box to make chicken buffalo dip in her household that has grown to a dozen people during the pandemic.

The combined household includes seven children, she said.

“It’s hard right now,” she said. “I’m very grateful. Every little bit helps.”

The school district set up the operation in the morning hopeful that it would be able to give away all 1,900 boxes, said spokeswoman Stephanie Smith. When they saw the size of the line forming, she said, “we were blown away.”

The district called on the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department to help manage the traffic backing up onto the highways.

The boxes were filled with a variety of goods, including apples, oranges, onions, potatoes, lettuce and cream cheese. Each car could have a box and a gallon of milk.

“Everyone who volunteered and helped out today was so excited to be there with the pouring-down rain,” Smith said. “They were helping so much and we’ve had such great feedback.”

The families expressed their appreciation, Smith said, both for the food and for the storm-soaked effort of the workers.

“We know that there are families out there that need us,” she said. “If we can play one small part in helping a family get through the next few weeks, the next few months, we’re happy to be able to do it.”

Lavigne just knows that once she got back into her dry house, her children loved the chicken sauteed in some of the potatoes, apples and onions she brought home.

By Joe Robertson/LINC writer

Video edited by Bryan Shepard