Under the bright mid-afternoon sun, Linda Perez directs a long line of cars into the Kingsway Shopping Center in Brandon.
The first 400 drivers will receive a trunk full of groceries, cleaning supplies and other household goods.
Boricuas de Corazón is the nonprofit behind these twice-monthly food banks.
They provide assistance in Spanish and English, which helps fill in the gaps when aid groups like FEMA or Red Cross don't have enough bilingual speakers.
Perez, the founder, said the need is greater than ever as residents continue to recover from hurricanes that battered the region.
"This was one of the biggest," Perez said, referring to the aftermath of back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton. "A lot of them are suffering because these two hurricanes hit (with) up to four to eight feet of water."
Perez said her team scoured neighborhoods and mobile home communities in Ruskin, Wimauma, Apollo Beach and Gibsonton, cities along Tampa Bay.
They urged residents to evacuate before the storms hit and came back to assess the damage after.
"Not everybody wants to listen to the evacuation information," said Perez.
Perez said they found people living in their water-logged homes. In those situations, Boricuas tries to provide families with hot meals.
Perez said the group has their own search and rescue team that's able to jump into action during major disasters. But on other days of the year, they're focused on events like food drives and distributing other household resources, like cleaning supplies and diapers.
On this hot Saturday in November, hundreds of cars are lined up for the food bank.
Crystal Cortez is one of them. Her two young children are playing in the backseat as she talks about losing power during Milton.
"We lost food, our fence, minor things, but it definitely affected us a lot," said Cortez. "We didn't have anything to begin with and then it took what we had."
Cortez said Boricuas de Corazón has been a lifeline for her and her family. She's been coming to the drives for the last two months.
"They would have everything for us — food, water, snacks — you name it," said Cortez, "It has brought us back from zero, from the ground."
Another resident, Carmen Mendez, said she also lost everything in her refrigerator during Milton.
Through a translator, Mendez said she was out of power for about a week. She first ate the food in her freezer, but after four days, that didn't keep either.
Mendez, who is diabetic, said her main concern was for her insulin, which needed to be refrigerated.
"I had to wait a week to be able to pick up more from the pharmacy," she said.
In the meantime, she ate nuts and other dried goods that didn't need to be cooked. She said the food bank has been able to help her build back some of what she's lost.
In addition to providing food and other basic goods, Boricuas assisted residents access government aid as well.
Perez said they helped families submit FEMA applications.
Boricuas helps families regardless of citizenship status, said Perez. If a family isn't eligible for government aid because of their immigration status, they'll point them to charitable resources that they can access.
"So immigrants that are coming, sometimes come in so afraid, because they don't know if they can be able to participate in the event, or if they need to have a Social Security number. In our office, that's not part of the deal," said Perez.
"It could be U.S. citizen or immigrant, we assist in them the same way," said Perez. "I always tell the people that the hurricane never (asks) you who you are. The hurricane just only hit the area, and that's it."
For more information on Boricuas de Corazón's events, visit their Facebook page.
