Hundreds of families waited hours outside the Lee Davis Community Center in Tampa, some arriving before sunrise Friday, all waiting for the same thing: help to put food on the table. FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer reports.

• Hundreds of Hillsborough County families lined up early Thursday morning for a food distribution event, amid ongoing uncertainty about the return of federal food assistance benefits.

• The grocery giveaway, organized by Hillsborough County Health Care Services and Feeding Tampa Bay, saw record turnout as residents waited hours for necessities.

• Federal officials say Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits should resume soon, but many families still don’t know when they’ll receive the funds they rely on to buy groceries.

TAMPA - Hundreds of families waited hours outside the Lee Davis Community Center in Tampa, some arriving before sunrise Friday, all waiting for the same thing: help to put food on the table.

The event, organized by Hillsborough County Health Care Services and Feeding Tampa Bay, drew 250 people, many of them struggling to feed their families as delays in federal food assistance continue.

"People have been out here since six o’clock this morning," said Stephanie Albury, who was among those waiting in line. "I still don’t have anything. It’s not going to be an overnight process. It’s not like [the federal government] just cut the light on, and we all got our food stamps."

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The federal government has reopened and funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is expected to resume soon. But across the country, uncertainty remains about when benefits will actually reach the accounts of recipients.

Nationwide, 42 million Americans depend on SNAP benefits to buy groceries. Officials say the program should restart within 24 hours for most states and at least 19 states and the District of Columbia have already issued full benefits to some recipients.