Crowds of homeless line up to get some free grocery money.

Many of us spent the weekend in long lines. Whether we were waiting for a store to open in the middle of the night, waiting through long checkout lines, or just waiting for that darn turkey to thaw, the name of the game was waiting.

And for area homeless, they spent hours waiting, too.

A report by ABC News 4 says Star Gospel Mission on Meeting Street gave out hundreds of free grocery gift cards to the first 600 people in line on Monday morning.

The $50 Piggly Wiggly cards have been given to people in need every year for more than 10 years. More than a thousand people have been known to wait, and this year was no exception.

“I’ve got my this morning’s breakfast here that will take me through to about midnight,” says Donald Heyward on Sunday morning as he geared up to wait starting at 11 am.

For Heyward, it’s like work.”I pulled an 18 hour shift last year, this year will be about 22 hours,” Heyward said.

Heyward said he’s been homeless on and off for 30 years, and that near full day of waiting is worth it for $50 of free groceries, since every penny makes a difference.

“I live on a limited income and 50 dollars extra keeps me from going into my pocket for other things,” said Heyward. “Fifty dollars. I worked a lot of hard days for 50 dollars so just to sit here for 18, 23 hours is not that bad.”

One thousand gift cards were donated by the Post and Courier’s Good Cheer Fund, but only 600 gift cards will be handed out to those waiting in line this year. The other 400 of the cards will be going to a handful of churches.

The minimum age to receive a gift card is 25 years old — a slight change from years past when the minimum was 18.

Smartly so, there are also limits to what you can buy with the cards. The Piggly Wiggly gift cards can only be used for food and not alcohol, tobacco products or the lottery.

Regardless of the limitations, the gift cards look to provide food and help for hundreds of people in need of a boost.

“It’s really important, it really helps a lot of the homeless people. It really does, it gives them hope and it gives them something to eat on the next day,” said Carl Livingston, who says he’s homeless and waited in line for a free gift card since Sunday afternoon.

It may be a little different than the lines we waited in this weekend, but what’s another night under the stars for these small but meaningful handouts?