They waited for hours, eventually lining up around the block from the Sacred Heart Community Center to register their children to receive a free backpack for school.
So many parents turned out that organizers began turning people away after signing up a record 1,648 students for the annual "Pack-A-Back" program.
When the first organizers arrived at 7:30 a.m. at the First Street facility in San Jose, they found a pair of mothers who told them they had arrived a couple of hours after midnight.
Organizers had expected a big crowd given the economy. They brought in an extra 110 to 120 volunteers to supplement the normal group of up to 200 volunteers to help with the registration. But the turnout taxed even the increased volunteer force.
"This is not only unprecedented, but frightening, to see that level of need," Sacred Heart Executive Director Poncho