This September, we are looking for hunger heroes, like you, to take the Share a Meal Challenge. This small act can help provide an additional 40,000 meals for our Central Florida neighbors in need.
When you step outside today, look around you and know that 1 out of 6 Central Floridians struggles with hunger. Families are faced with deciding between rent and food and seniors between medicine and groceries. 1 in 4 kids doesn’t regularly have enough to eat. It shouldn’t be like this.
Your gift today will help feed our neighbors in need immediately. A generous, anonymous donor has offered to match your gift up to $5,000. This is your chance to double your impact.
Your $10 gift normally provides 40 meals, but right now, it can provide 80 meals. Can we count on you to share a meal today?
We have made some new updates in the Agency Lobby! Next time you shop be sure to check it out!
Thanks to you, thousands of kids and families had a hope-filled summer!
Second Harvest’s Summer Food Service Program hit the road on May 29 to deliver fresh, healthy meals to kids. With 51 new locations in 2018, the program served children at over 118 summer camps, day care centers, parks, libraries and other programs across all six Central Florida counties five days a week all summer long.
A few highlights:
Second Harvest and its network of 550 feeding partners were out in force this summer to distribute 8 million meals to kids and families at food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters. One way this feat is accomplished is through mobile food dropsthat distribute fresh produce, meats and dairy along with pantry staples in food deserts where neighbors do not have easy access to a traditional grocer. This summer 70 mobile drops were held in just 74 days!
While most students were out of school, Second Harvest’s Culinary and Distribution Center Training Programs were in full swing with a total of 25 students. These economically disadvantaged adults spent the summer learning the professional and life skills needed to secure sustainable careers in the food industry or in a distribution center.
In addition, thanks to the support of Walt Disney World Foundation, Second Harvest launched the Team Nutrition Team. This group of nine high school juniors and seniors from six Central Florida high schools spent the summer learning about nutrition and demonstrating their new skills with engaging activities at community events. They collectively provided nutrition education to 500 adults and children this summer and will take this knowledge and experience back to their campuses to share with their peers throughout the school year.
All of this was accomplished with your help. Thanks to financial donations, FUNdraise for Good participants and an enormous investment of time and energy by more than 1,100 volunteers, students and families across Central Florida are returning to school filled with hope for the year ahead.
Second Harvest Food Bank has already pivoted from its summer programs to provide students with access to nourishing meals at Kids Café sites, School Markets and through weekend backpack programs. Learn more about these essential childhood hunger programs that help students arrive at school ready to learn all year long at www.feedhopenow.org/how_help_kids.
During the summer, the most vulnerable students are given access to meals through Second Harvest Food Bank’s Summer Food Service Program across our six-county service area. These students spend their summers eating healthy food, being with friends and preventing the dreaded brain drain.
Last week, Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy (FL-07) visited one of the Summer Food Service sites in Seminole County with her staff. She took part in the lunchtime distribution of meals, ensuring students had a selection of either strawberry or the much-desired chocolate milk.
After distributing the milk, Rep. Murphy was able to sit down with students ranging from kindergarten to middle school to find out their favorite parts of the day. She taught them what a Congresswoman does on a day-to-day basis, too.
Congresswoman Murphy and her staff helped feed a healthy balanced meal to nearly 200 children at Midway Safe Harbor in Sanford. In Seminole County, 18.2% (roughly 57,730) of all children under 18 are food insecure, meaning they don’t know where their next meal will come from. Hunger never takes a vacation. And through sites like this one, Second Harvest is able to provide kids with a meal so they can continue to be our future.
