Food banks and community organizations that are already running low on food due to the economic impact of the coronavirus are facing additional pressure as schools continue to shut down programs serving kids.

"We're reaching capacity," said Alabama Food Bank Association Policy Director Kim Lawkis, when it comes to filling the gap caused by schools stopping meal service. In Alabama, around 400,000 students depend on schools for two meals a day—breakfast and lunch.

Once schools closed in mid-March, most continued to distribute food to students, but many have stopped now. Alabama State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey said many districts are in the process of switching over to their summer meal program method, but that hasn’t been a seamless transition.

That has left some school communities in a lurch, with no food coming from schools and no community partners set up to fill the gap.

Related: One Alabama county relies on army of volunteers to keep feeding children

"Essentially we've started an early summer," he said, and that's when many community partners like YMCAs and community centers distribute meals through the federal Summer Meal Service Program. That transition, he said, "has not been smooth in many communities."

Lawkis' association is one of those summer sponsors and has been ramping up distribution in the past few weeks. But there are problems, she said, because the need is so great, growing exponentially week over week.

Lawkis said her organization has great vendors that supply food, but with the huge numbers of needy students, it would help to have schools at the table. "The community partners don't have the infrastructure and equipment and the buying power that a lot of these school districts have."

Alabama Food Bank Association Director Laura Lester is concerned about the number of school districts that have shut their programs down in Alabama. "This is not happening in every state," she said. "Not to the extent that it is happening in Alabama."

Lawkis encourages school officials to stay open during the transition to summer feeding programs, urging best practices to stay safe and healthy. "There are people in our state that are doing it."

The list of best practices is short. "Wear masks and gloves as they prepare and deliver their meals," she said. "Check volunteers' temperatures at the door." If they have a temperature, send them home. Sanitize equipment regularly.

"The backbone of the food ecosystem in our state for children," Lawkis said, "is the school lunchroom."

According to information posted on the USDA’s website, of the 611 school-sponsored meals distribution sites that started serving meals immediately after schools closed the week of March 16, nearly 300 have shut down. Two dozen more will close by the end of the month.

Beginning May 1, a full five weeks before schooling is scheduled to end, with new programs scheduled to start while others will end on April 30, current USDA data shows 518 places—some schools and some community centers and residential areas—where children can pick up meals.

Compare that to the 1,400 public schools statewide that would ordinarily be serving student meals, and the enormity of the problem becomes clear.

"Schools are the front line for feeding kids. We can work alongside the schools," Lawkis said, helping to organize volunteers and front-line workers to distribute food and to provide some of the food. But schools need to be at the table to really meet the needs right now.

The map below shows wide swaths of Alabama where there are few places where hungry students can find meals.

The USDA's database isn't completely accurate—for example, Macon County schools are still serving food to children but are not on the map while Washington County schools suspended their meal service but are still indicated as serving—but it is the only information available to use for now.

The USDA data also omits Elmore County, which is continuing to feed students in five schools and using eight buses to distribute food into neighborhoods across the county.

Danielle Turk oversees the summer food program at the Alabama State Department of Education. Data she shared showed nearly 1,200 sites were open last summer, and some applications are still underway.

During the summer, Turk said, "We have normally a statewide effort of schools, private non profits, churches, and county and city governments." Calling this a "whirlwind" effort, they had to get schools up and running in only a few days while still meeting federal requirements for registration.

The situation is rapidly changing and simply getting the word to people where meals are available has been a challenge.

"In a time like this," Turk said, "getting the word out of site locations, times, and dates is hard because all those things can change in a minute and then the outreach efforts are for nothing."

The education department’s “Break for a Plate” website has the most up to date information available, and residents can text “FOOD” to 877-877 for places where food is available close to them.

Finding workers to hand out meals has been a problem in some areas, Mackey said. School officials in areas that shut down meal service said they couldn’t ask school employees to willingly risk getting—or giving--the coronavirus during meal distribution.

A federal benefit, called Pandemic Electronic Bank Transfer, or P-EBT, will help families who rely on schools for meals during the closure, but those benefits are not yet being distributed. Mackey told AL.com he had hoped families would receive those benefits, amounting to $130 per child, by the end of April but it now looks like it will be May before those benefits reach families. A spokesman for the Alabama Department of Human Resources, which is the agency responsible for distributing the benefits to families, said the application was submitted to federal officials on April 9, but they were still working through questions about Alabama’s application.

While families are waiting for those financial benefits to arrive, Turk said she is encouraged that some who have currently closed their school-based meal programs are now talking about reopening them.

Related: Birmingham city, Jefferson county schools restart meals for students

On Wednesday, Lawkis' organization took over the meal distribution program in Trussville, a suburb east of Birmingham.

Though only about 10% of the district's 4,800 students qualified for free or reduced-price meals at the beginning of the school year, Superintendent Dr. Pattie Neill said families there now need help.

"We have multiple families whose businesses are closed and multiple families who are either out of work or who have lost hours at work," Neill said, "and they haven't had the chance to apply for free or reduced-price meals."

Neill said her school district didn't have a problem with workers. "We had more workers than we needed because everybody showed up to help."

However, due to a growing need—150 students the first week compared to more than 800 this week--Neill has now turned that function over to the Alabama Food Bank Association, which will continue to provide grab and go meals at Trussville Middle School.

Getting food to the school was becoming a problem in recent weeks. "Deliveries have been spotty," Neill said, and sometimes essential foods, like milk, were not being delivered at all.

After talking with other superintendents in the area, she said, "I felt the best thing to do for the community at large was to consolidate (food orders)" Neill said. "You don't want the church ordering, the food bank ordering, and putting a stress on the supply chain."

While continuing to step up where Lawkis continues to hope that schools will reopen their meal service programs to hungry children. “Schools are the front line for feeding kids.”

Related: Alabama schools chief worried about mental health, meals, internet access for students

Here’s a look at Alabama State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey’s interview on AL.com’s Facebook live on Thursday.