Church helpers were left in tears after being forced to turn away hungry families who came to collect food handouts after a goodwill event went viral on Facebook.
Norton Methodist Church made a post about their weekly 'pantry' event on Sunday, where fresh food items thrown out by Morrisons and Tesco are given out by volunteers.
The status ended up being shared 2,300 times, resulting in "crazy queues" and "jams in the car park" as scores of people turned up.
Residents claim some of those who attended left with "bags and bags" - and were quick to point that others may have needed them more, Teeside Live reports.
But Norton Road church says all who queued were in need - and some were collecting on behalf of others who were unable to attend.
Minister, Reverand Vincent Jambawo, told Teesside Live: "People have said some were greedy, but it is so hard to stand in the queue in the cold.
"This is not the races or the football, people are not there just by choice."
The church's post reached 135,000 people on the social media platform and was shared 2,300 times and volunteers were "taken by surprise" after five times as many people as usual turned up.
Usually they get between 70 and 90 people.
Volunteers were left in tears after having to turn hungry people away.
One mum of nine, "desperate for help" because she was forced to leave a paid course for her new job after her daughter became seriously ill, said she "left with nothing as the queue was massive".
Another woman wrote: "I think what you are doing is fantastic, but I know for definite there were people there today who were not on low income or desperate but were there because it was free."
"We were planning on popping in but OMG the queue was crazy," wrote another.
"I'm pleased the food isn't going to landfill but the amount of bags people were coming out with was a bit excessive," she added. "There's absolutely no way there would have been anything left if we'd have waited."
Another said she waited 40 minutes with a friend who had found herself "in a tough spot".
"First time we had been," she said, "people carrying bags of food with no consideration for anyone else.
"A wonderful thing that you do but some people are soo greedy."
The church has explained why they did not impose a limit on the amounts of food given out to people.
"Some people have large families and one bag wouldn’t be sufficient," their post said.
"Some people collect for other vulnerable people who can’t come, so not all what they take is for them.
"And we trust that people will only take what they need or can use."
Some items were limited so they would "go further" and the church got "literally every bit of food" they had in the building to "make sure we could give to as many people as possible".
"We did what we could to meet need and we will seek to find even more food surplus next week so that more people can benefit," the post added.
"We couldn't anticipate how viral the post went and how many people would come, we had approx 5 times what we normally do, but were able to provide for around double our usual figures.
"The pantry aims to prevent food waste and hunger and in some ways today was a good day, as we achieved both things.
"There was no waste and many, many people received food."
Rev Jambawo, said: "The turnout yesterday was exceptional.
"Most of the people in the queue just want to put food on the table, yet there is so much that goes to waste.
"We collect food from the large supermarkets.
"Our only criteria is that you use it, you don't throw it away.
"We are finding there's amazing community engagement, some people are forming friendships at these events.
"Our wonderful volunteers were in tears yesterday when they had to turn some people away because we had run out of food.
"Things are going to be more difficult for families.
"We just try to do our best.
"We weren't sure which direction this was going to go when we started in July.
"I just hope the government takes meaningful steps to alleviate the impact on the vulnerable. We've got to find ways of making our communities more resilient."
"The fact that demand is far outweighing supply is not your fault," they wrote.
"I understand people's anger and frustration - the reality of having mouths to feed and the absolute gripping fear of knowing that you have no way to do that is horrific.
"So many people will be going to bed with full tummies tonight, and at least the next few.... That is because of you."
