FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) Brooklyn Dotson needed food. Her first unemployment check had yet to arrive after she was let go by the warehouse where she used to work.

So the 25-year-old Nashville woman scrounged up some gas money and drove 30 miles (48 kilometers) to the GraceWorks Ministries food pantry in Franklin. There, at the pantrys new drive-thru, workers wearing masks and gloves loaded her van with about $350 worth of groceries.

I dont have any income coming in, I dont get any food stamps, so its just hard to get any help right now, Dotson said while waiting in line at GraceWorks.

Food pantries stay busy even in the best of economic times; the coronavirus pandemic has prompted a spike in demand as millions of people like Dotson find themselves furloughed, laid off or with businesses that have suffered huge financial blows.

About 50% of the people coming through our lines have never been here before, said GraceWorks President and CEO Valencia A. Breckenridge.