MIAMI (WSVN) - A City of Miami commissioner is trying to help residents get the groceries they need amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s a helping hand that means so much to several hundred residents who waited in line at the Little Haiti Soccer Park on Wednesday morning.
It wasn’t Sofia Printemps’ first time in line, as she wasn’t able to snag one of the cards on Tuesday.
“They took the first hundred, and then they tell everybody to go home,” Printemps said.
Those who were first in line on Wednesday were waiting in their spots by 1 a.m.
Printemps was joined by hundreds of others hoping to make the cut for the day. Some missed work to wait in line saying it was well worth it.
“Oh, my God, it would be such a blessing,” said Pat Baker, fighting back tears. “I get so emotional with things going on in the world. That’s why I got up early because this will help my family.”
Baker explained to 7News what a struggle the last several months have been for her family.
“This is real hard. It’s hard,” she said. “Everybody has to try to get everything they can get because we don’t know what right now may bring, you know?”
Her point was made clear with the long line of people hoping to get a $250 Publix gift card.
“We have a whole lot of demand and not a lot of supply,” said City of Miami District 5 Commissioner Jeffrey Watson. “We’re trying to do it as orderly as we can under the circumstances.”
City of Miami Police Officers were on scene to keep order in the line.
“You gotta reside in the City of Miami jurisdiction,” said one officer to the crowd.
Organizers distributing the cards ultimately capped the line off for the day at 170 people.
“Please come back tomorrow morning, as early as you can,” one officer said over his cruiser’s speaker.
Watson said he and his team have about 4,500 cards they will give out over the next several days.
He just wishes he could do more.
“I feel like we’re working with not enough money, and if I had a big check I’d like to just hand out cash and let people just do what they need to do.”
Other folks in line who were not able to get gift cards left frustrated but will be able to try again on Thursday.
This gift card distribution is different from City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s gift card distribution, which will take place once a week through the end of the year.
Suarez’s next gift card distribution will take place on Dec. 8 at the Little Haiti Soccer Park.
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