KILLEEN, Texas — The Food Care Center in Killeen passed out 200 free Thanksgiving meals this morning to those in need.
People waited overnight for the meals and by 6:00 a.m. every ticket had been taken for each free meal.
Mothers, sisters, families and friends stood out in the cold as they waited for their turkey and all the fixings.
Raymond Cockrell who runs the food care center said this is the most people in need he's seen in the 36 years the center has been open.
"There's so many people who are going hungry and no one who should go hungry," Cockrell added.
On Monday the organization handed out 1,000 meals to military members and families on Fort Cavazos. Cockrell said he saw record numbers.
20% of the 121,374 people they served in the recent fiscal year were active duty military.
"This is the first time we've served over 20-thousand military members," he added.
Lieutenant Anna M. Lewis serves on Fort Cavazos and has experienced food insecurity. Lewis said that with rising costs and higher living expenses budgets have gotten a little tighter.
"It's times of Thanksgiving and Christmas coming soon and it's really actually hard," Lewis said.
The empathy she gained from her experience is what she gives back to her community now.
One in six military and veterans in Texas experience low food security or hunger. Four-million people overall in the state deal with food insecurity.
On Tuesday more active-duty military members and veterans were able to fill their hearts and shopping carts with Thanksgiving meals.
500 more meals were donated to local churches who found where they were needed in their community.
Cockrell said he couldn't do this without the community and he hopes to get more people involved in future events.
To donate to the Food Care Center in Killeen, click here.
More locations to find free Thanksgiving meals across CTX:
Food insecurity in Texas:
One in six military and veteran family respondents in Texas were experiencing low food security or hunger, according to the USDA's Six-Item Short Form Food Security Scale, compared to one in eight respondents nationally.
In Texas, 13% of Texas households — 1 in 8 Texans — experience food insecurity. That's 1.4 million Texas households and nearly 4 million individuals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life, and also points out that, “It is important to know that hunger and food insecurity are closely related, but distinct, concepts. Hunger refers to a personal, physical sensation of discomfort, while food insecurity refers to a lack of available financial resources for food at the level of the household.”