Laid-off Disney workers are turning to food banks as the coronavirus devastates Florida’s tourism...

At a self-storage garage in the suburbs of Orlando, a dozen or so volunteers are lining up to fill bags with groceries. This pop-up food bank has grown steadily over the past few months. The new helpers are introducing themselves.

“I’m here to help out my fellow cast members,” says one, 52-year-old Tammy Akers. “I was recently laid off so I may need help myself soon,” she adds.

Cast members is what Disney employees call themselves. No matter what their job, most see themselves as part of the same onscreen universe that birthed an entertainment empire. But that empire is crumbling. Akers is one of thousands of cast members who have been laid off or furloughed in recent months here in central Florida, a casualty of the havoc wrought by the coronavirus on the tourism industry.