No fire trucks blared their horns and yet, a Brooklyn Center fire station was responding to an emergency few people may even see in the suburb.

On a recent afternoon, bags of rice, beans and canned goods filled a table, ready to help a growing number of hungry Minnesotans. From fire halls to fitness centers and libraries, some 60 community buildings in Minnesota and western Wisconsin have turned into free food pickup sites for Every Meal, formerly the Sheridan Story, a Roseville-based nonprofit.

The deadly pandemic that tore through the nation’s heartland struck just as Aaron Crawford was in a moment of crisis. He was looking for work, his wife needed surgery, then the virus began eating away at her work hours and her paycheck.

The Crawfords had no savings, mounting bills and a growing dread: What if they ran out of food? The couple had two boys, 5 and 10, and boxes of macaroni and cheese from the dollar store could go only so far.

Millions of low-income schoolchildren have gone almost an entire semester without receiving federal payments to help their families buy groceries months after Congress authorized the aid — even as child hunger reaches record highs in the U.S.

54 million Americans, including 18 million children, to be food insecure by the end of 2020, according to Feeding America

One in six Americans projected to be food insecure by the end of the year, according to Feeding America, the largest anti-hunger organization in the US.