The Salvation Army in New Jersey has given out more than 8 million meals to state residents over the last year between its soup kitchen and food pantry.

Officials with the Montclair branch say that at one point they were giving out 50-60 boxes of food every week through the food pantry. They say that they do not expect the need for assistance to change.

“If you lost your job because of COVID, you may not be getting it back…that’s not going to change if your income has decreased or all kinds of other factors that have played into this,” says Major Brett DeMichael. “We really feel like the need is not going away, certainly not anytime soon.”

But despite the pandemic, Salvation Army officials say that donations were up last year.