Even with the food pantry, if they were giving out pre-packed boxes of stuff without asking for any information, they probably were not turning people away for lack of food. Food is generally the thing food pantries have plenty of, because this culture has so much food "wasted" as unsold (and we are, actually, pretty good at incentivizing getting it to food pantries.) The first time I went to a food giveaway, the summer I was broke and housesitting in Chicago (but knowing I could ask for money from the parents and get it) the people working there told me they just want the food to get eaten and I don't need to feel guilty about it, and that's been more or less the same answer I've gotten at all of them. They are often as much doing the job of reducing food waste as helping food-insecure people.

They tend to be short on money, labor, logistics, space, and very specific kinds of food - our local one is always short of shelf-stable protein options, and the kind of high-calorie pre-packaged highly processed snack food that's good for unhoused people - but if they're handing out pre-packed boxes, not asking for any qualifiers, and there's not a line, you're probably doing them a favor by taking it and eating it. (They will always be glad for the cash donation, though.)