PINCKNEYVILLE - Using a unique distribution system, the Least of the Brethren food pantry provided nearly 200 families with a truckload of food Tuesday.

About 20 volunteers - some from the Pinckneyville pantry and others from the St. Louis Area Food Bank - formed an assembly line with pallets of canned foods, puddings and vegetables, said George Culley, pastor of the Least Brethren Church.

As families drove their cars through the line, volunteers loaded their backseats and trunks with food, Culley said. Though the line grew long, cars moved through it smoothly.

""It was the greatest thing to hit Pinckneyville since the coal mines were here," he said.

With high costs of fuel and food, more people are in need of assistance with food, which led to the idea, Culley said.

"It was just like the Lord was in this," he said. "It just went smoothly. It was unbelievable we moved that much food in that short time."