Editor’s note: Our series On the Front Lines recognizes those in the community who are confronting the coronavirus pandemic head-on, while the rest of us do our part by stepping back.

Staff Sgt. Mariah McLeod was one of 15 uniformed Air National Guardsmen packing boxes of fruit inside Second Harvest’s Spokane distribution center Tuesday morning.

The Air National Guard sent 20 guardsmen to local food banks, including those 15 at Second Harvest, to help with the increased need for food in Spokane as unemployment numbers soar due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This came across and I jumped on it right away, even though I’m a full-time student,” McLeod said of the assignment.

McLeod, 25, has been in the guard for about five years.

She transferred to Eastern Washington University from Montana Western three years ago to study exercise science and hopes to get her master’s in occupational therapy.

In the military, McLeod serves as a public health technician, making pandemic service a good fit.

The guardsmen work alongside Second Harvest volunteers, packing boxes and sorting food in the distribution center.

“They’re really helpful,” McLeod said. “Everyone is working toward a common goal, for sure.”

Many of the food bank’s volunteers are older retirees who have extra time on their hands and want to give back, said Drew Meuer, senior vice president of philanthropy. That also makes many of the volunteers high risk for having complications if they catch COVID-19, he said.

With fewer volunteers and more work, the Air National Guard deployed across the state to help out.

“We’re just here to help on humanitarian missions and help out the community,” McLeod said.

The effort to aid food banks – stretched thin at a time when the economy is all but shuttered – coincided with an announcement Tuesday by state leaders about a new statewide relief fund.

McLeod said she is excited to be staying busy and helping her community during this stressful time.

When asked how the community could in turn support Air National Guard members during this time, she said they’re taken care of, before noting that Second Harvest could definitely use more volunteers.

“There so much work to do back there,” McLeod said as she got up to head back to work.