BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- Community Action Partnership of Kern, known as CAPK, continues its mission of ending hunger in Kern. An issue that's rapidly increased this past year. "In January of 2023 we had about 100,000 engagements a month, 100,000 times that people across Kern County needed to access emergency food," said Kelly Lowery, Food Bank Administrator at CAPK. "And in August of this year, 2024, that number has doubled." CAPK reports that as of 2020, almost 15% of adults in Kern lived with food insecurity, higher than the 10% nationwide, and 9% in California. As of 2022, one of five children lived with food insecurity...giving Bakersfield the title of the "hungriest metropolitan area in the United States." A challenging gap to bridge, but CAPK is taking it on. "Around 2 million pounds of food comes out of this warehouse and goes across our county every single month," said Lowery. 16-year-old girl reported missing, last seen on Sunday: Bakersfield PD Overcoming hunger one program at a time. "We have 54 commodity distribution sites, we have 11 free farmer's markets where we give out fresh free produce, and on top of all of that, we are right now distributing 5,800 food boxes to low-income seniors every single month," said Lowery. CAPK strives to not only get more food, but make it more accessible and is looking for donations to set up 15 refrigerated food lockers. "They work over the internet with an online platform where people receive a code and they're able to access the food at their convenience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," said Lowery. There's many ways you can help, CAPK is always looking for monetary or food donations and volunteers, for more information call 2-1-1.