PINE ISLAND, Fla. - It's a desperate plea for help. The Pine Island Food Pantry just served a record number of families the other day. But as the need increases the donations have decreased.

The food pantry is located at the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church on Pine Island. But if you walk inside, you"ll see many of the shelves are completely bare.

As the pantry president Dave Grueser shows us, even fridges that are usually completely full now have a lot of space. He says this is normally the time of year when donations are tight anyway, but he says right now, the need is greater than ever.

The pantry serves people on Pine Island, Matlacha and Matlacha Isles on Mondays and Thursdays.

They've just seen a record amount of families needing food. On Thursday they served 35 families, about 111 people.  

"If you consider feeding that many people, that many families, the demand is amazing. The shelves just dwindle after one day," said Grueser.  

If you would like to donate you can drop food off at Stonegate Bank, the Matlacha Post Office, or Winn Dixie on the island.