Vicente Zerna, a courier who until recently earned $650 a week, now parks his bicycle in front of a community center in Manhattan to pick up a small bag of free groceries. Zerna has been doing the same thing every day for three months.

At 2 p.m., the doors of the Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry open to everyone who has difficulty paying for things like juice, cookies, yogurt, a granola bar, and various kinds of raisins.

"I do it to save myself some money. Things are hard," said the courier, who now only earns $300 a week.

As the economic recessions worsens and more people lose their jobs, the number of Latinos showing up at churches and food pantries has increased considerably, according to figures from the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and other agencies that donate food.

"The trend has accelerated, including in the Hispanic community," said Joel Berg, the executive director of the Coalition.

In the past year, the number of people looking for free food went up significantly in 87 percent of the city agencies that offer food services, according to data released by the Coalition. Fifty-eight percent of the agencies reported serving more people who, despite holding a job, still come to get free food.

Frai Tirado, a 79-year-old Puerto Rican, said the line that forms on Saturdays in front of the Episcopal church of San Pedro, in the Chelsea neighborhood, has increased in the last few months.

"Now people of all ages come," he said after picking up a bag of cereal, cans of beans, fruit in syrup and rice.

"The number of people has gone up by more than a fourth of the total. We only hand out food for a half hour," explained Dennis Winslow, who distributes 160 bags of food on Saturdays.

María Castillo, an assistant at the Hope Line in the South Bronx, pointed out that the number of people looking for bags with rice, ham, chicken, milk, vegetables, or juice has doubled within the last year.

"Seventy percent of those who come are Hispanic," said Castillo, "and many of them are ashamed of it. They lower their gaze. You know it's the first time they've come."

The Hope Line, whose executive director is Rosanna Dilonez, receives funds from organization like Food Bank or City Harvest in order to buy food.

The organization distributes food Monday through Thursday and allows each person to pick up a bag every two weeks.

Doménico Forte, a 39-year-old Venezuelan courier, has become accustomed to picking up his bag of groceries at the Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry, where they don't ask for papers or signatures.

"Before, I used to earn up to $120 per day. Now it's $55, if I'm lucky," he said while eating his yogurt. "I don't have any other choice but to come here."

Nevertheless, experts assure that there is cause for a little optimism, given that the government recently approved financial support for voucher and charity programs.

VIDEO :: Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and author of All You Can Eat delivered a statement about the year-end report on hunger in the City and talked about his hopes for increased food relief under the new administration.