Like superfans camping out for concert tickets, people bring their folding chairs and huddle under blankets, sometimes for more than 12 hours. But they are not here for a show—they're lining up for a market where they can get around $250 worth of groceries free of charge.

"I took little naps," says Vicente, who declined to give his full name, his eyes bright after eight hours in the relative chill of early October. A cabinet maker, he runs his own shop, but work has been slow, and he has a mortgage and two cars to maintain.

Unlike a traditional food bank, he can pick and choose what he wants here—including fresh meat, eggs, and local produce—as he would in a normal supermarket.

Such basics have become a coveted luxury for people struggling to make ends meet in California, where runaway living costs have given the state the distinction of having the world's fourth-largest economy and the nation's highest poverty rates.

The vast majority who camp out for the market are not homeless. Many are homeowners; others rent, or live in subsidized housing. Most foodbank clients in the region have at least one working person in their household.

All of them are finding it increasingly impossible to stretch a fixed income or pension as gas, grocery, housing, and utility costs skyrocket.

"Every single month we feed 320,000 individuals, just in Central California," Kym Dildine, co-chief executive officer for the Central California Food Bank, which operates the First Fruits Market at the Fresno Mission, told The Epoch Times.

Dildine says demand for the Food Bank's services is similar to the level at the height of the pandemic.

One in four adults, and one in three children in the Central Valley, she noted, struggle with food insecurity, which the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines as limited or uncertain access to adequate food. This is significantly higher than statewide estimates and a national rate of around 13.5 percent.

Among California's low-income adults, 45 percent say they can't afford food, according to a recent UCLA study.

Dildine also says that with the federal cuts looming following passage of the Republican One Big Beautiful Bill in July, the crisis may soon have more far-reaching impacts.