And finally, food pantries around the state are ramping up their efforts to feed people ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Trenton area soup kitchen is working to make sure every family will have a meal on their table, despite the surge in food insecurity statewide.

This year, they're hand-delivering several hundred prepared dinners to those residents most in need.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports.

As part of our ongoing series Hunger in New Jersey.

I'm going to be able to cook.

And that's the joyful thing, just being able to cook it and have people enjoy it.

That makes me feel like I'm a beautiful mother that I can provide.

For my son.

Lisa Lewis and Marlana Tyler just received their bags of free food from the Trenton area soup, kitchen or task.

They're among the hundreds today receiving a Thanksgiving meal that they couldn't afford on their own.

With the way the economy is now, it's hard to buy food and everything.

And I think the tent near soup kitchens so much, they don't know, you know, I'm able to cook dinner, have family over.

And without them, it wouldn't be possible.

The baskets contain turkey pie, stuffing, fruit, potato, vegetable, everything you need to make a Thanksgiving meal.

Some of the baskets are picked up directly from the soup kitchen in downtown Trenton.

But for many of the residents who receive services from task, getting to the center is too difficult, especially for the elderly, the disabled and those without cars.

That's where Amazon has stepped in to help today.

Our partnership with Amazon enables us to deliver many more baskets that we wouldn't be able to deliver without their help.

And Asher Street, where we're located, is a very small street.

Navigating it with too many cars is is dangerous.

So we like to try to get as many baskets delivered as possible.

Jamie Parker says it takes a whole lot to pull off the coordination of this food collection and delivery.

A variety of organizations have put together the donations and then we've got a variety of folks helping with the deliveries.

So we've got students from TCNJ Bonner.

We've got the some of the employees from Amazon helping.

We've got some task staff with.

And while the support that they're receiving around this Thanksgiving holiday is tremendous, CEO Paul Jensen says the need this year has been 70% higher than last year.

Staggering, considering hunger and food insecurity have steadily risen since the pandemic.

The beginning of the month looks like the end of the month used to, you know, because our month builds.

It starts later and ends on a heavier note because how people get benefits.

So now the beginning is like 400 average.

They can serve up to 700 meals by the end of the month.

And it's not just around the holidays when people tend to be the most generous.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas is when people want to give the most.

And we appreciate that.

But we would like to have food coming in all year round.

Donations.

In the end, about 500 of these prepared bags will go out to the community today.

Another 500 hot meals will be served here on Thanksgiving Day.

And about 2000 hot meals will be sent out to community centers and other locations around this Trenton area on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, demonstrating just how great the need is here in Trenton.

I'm Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

Support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an industry licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.