About 30 people already were waiting in the chilly drizzle when Eugene Dickerson, 37, arrived at the Lindenwold PATCO station to help distribute free produce and other items through Philabundance's Fresh for All program.
A half-hour later, still 30 minutes before food would be passed out, the line in the parking lot had grown to about 200 people.
"Normally, we have even more than that," said Dickerson, an out-of-work chef who volunteers every Saturday for the 1:30 p.m. event. "You'd be overwhelmed."
The Camden County site - easily accessible by public transportation, and at a convenient time for the working poor - is the busiest of Fresh for All's 12 mostly suburban locations. It has moved more than 50,000 pounds of fruit, vegetables, and other fresh foods since it opened July 25, Philabundance officials say.
Helpers there dispense 5,000 pounds of food a week to more than 225 households. But program officials say they are buckling under the weight of the need.
"If we don't get some more volunteers soon, it's getting very hard to run that site," said Kelly Hile, direct-service director for Philabundance.
Fresh for All, like the region's food pantries, could use more hands. Some Lindenwold volunteers already help at other locations in the fresh-food outreach program, each of which is open one hour per week.
At food pantries, elderly women make up the bulk of the volunteer staff, according to Philabundance. At Fresh for All, many volunteers are themselves victims of the recession. Some, like Dickerson, started as clients.
While some analysts have proclaimed the economy's worst days over, Fresh for All volunteers have yet to see much trickle-down for themselves or their customers.
The numbers reveal the breadth of the region's need. Since December 2007, when the first Fresh for All site opened in Woodlyn, the program has distributed about 1.8 million pounds of food. With only two Philadelphia locations, including one in Pennsport that opened Oct. 23, the overwhelming response refutes any assumption about the suburbs' immunity to hunger and poverty.
"We take it for granted, where there is greenery, there is no need," said Martha Buccino, Philabundance senior vice president.
While some programs, including many food pantries, provide packaged food and staples, Fresh for All focuses on getting perishable goods to communities that lack retail produce outlets or offer poor transportation to existing markets.
"We know produce is more expensive than other items," Buccino said. "We also know when money is short, people skimp on food."
So far, the supply of fresh food has not been a problem, despite the fact that Philabundance has seen an overall 30 increase in demand for food in the last year.
What the perishables program lacks is sufficient refrigeration, which has caused some supplies to be rerouted to other programs. Buccino said that was a problem Philabundance soon hoped to remedy.
Then there is the volunteer issue. The lack of help doesn't threaten to close any Fresh for All locations, said Philabundance's Hile, but it makes the operation harder to run.
Consumers at the sites are the working poor, unemployed or underemployed. Some who would like to volunteer can't.
"If they don't have jobs, they don't want to spend money on transportation," Buccino said. "Also, we are open peak hours for people doing other things," including looking for work.
But there are those who give their time anyway.
Eugene Dickerson, for one. Out of work for a little more than a year, the Pennsauken resident turned to Fresh for All to help his mother, with whom he lives. He then began to volunteer at the Lindenwold and Camden sites. He also helps at a food pantry and uses his chef's skills to cook for the homeless at a Camden soup kitchen.
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