For many families, access to food and water is not as easy as walking into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator.

The Earth Fare Supermarket on Westgate Parkway distributed thousands of meals today.

It was all free.

The supermarket began serving food around 11 a.m. on Thursday. The need for food, water and other resources is so great that people were already lining up for hours.

All food given out was frozen, so people had to be prepared for storage.

“I’m here today to try to get more canned food to deliver to Yancey County so people have something to eat and drink to stay alive,” Cindy Fox said.

She traveled from Yancey County. Fox told us that all she can think about is keeping people alive. She became emotional as she reflected on the death toll as it appears to continue to rise.

“Trust that things will get better. Talk to people … whatever you can do physically if you can, or pray,” Fox said.

LIVE UPDATES, OCT. 3: FEMA and BUNCOMBE officials provide updates on Helene’s recovery

Fox was one of many who made their way to Earth Fare Thursday morning. The chain is taking to social media with a heartfelt message to its community.

“Asheville has been the home of Earth Fare for over 50 years. What happened to our community is devastating,” Fox said.

“Earth Fare has partnered with Inland Foods and we have a specialty truck from Atlanta. This truck contains almost half a million dollars worth of food that they gave away for free,” Laurie Aker said on Earth Fare’s Facebook page.

The Swannanoa couple who died in Helene were scheduled to celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary on October 23rd. 14

Aker serves as director of marketing for Earth Fare. You could see people packing the food into all sorts of bags or containers.

Fox said it will take a long time for the Asheville community to heal, but points to humanity as she watches complete strangers help each other.

“It’s kind of sad, but after seeing everyone come together to help each other, even people from other states, it gives me the extra strength to say what I can do,” Fox said.