The line of cars stretched for blocks down Racine Avenue, wrapping around West 78th Street and ending in front of Saint Sabina Church. There, volunteers clad in winter coats and gloves waited to distribute a pile of brown cardboard boxes containing necessities for the next few weeks — unperishable food for people who need it amid uncertainty surrounding SNAP benefits.

The food distribution event, put on by the church community and the Greater Chicago Food Depository on Saturday morning, drew over 500 people by car and by foot. Some participants said they began lining up around 7 a.m., three hours before the event started to get the boxes filled with items like peanut butter, pasta, and canned fruits and vegetables. Those on foot stood in a line that wrapped around the church’s parking lot

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