It’s time to DOUBLE the impact of your gift today! Your food bank is ringing in the New Year with a challenge grant from the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. With your help, when we raise $350,000, your dollars will be fully matched to provide twice the amount of nutritious food to seniors who are hungry through our Care and Share Senior Feeding Program.
Seniors in our community, like Eugene, often struggle more with negative physical and mental health issues because of malnourishment. They are less likely to drive due to a loss of mobility and are unable to obtain healthy and fresh foods at traditional grocery stores or food pantries. Seniors like Eugene have trouble standing for long periods of time and preparing complex meals in the kitchen becomes painfully exhausting. They are also enduring an uphill battle against inflation and can’t stretch their fixed incomes as far as they used to with surging healthcare and grocery expenses. Many seniors are forced to make the difficult choice between paying for prescriptions or purchasing food. Like Eugene, they may resort to reducing portion sizes or skipping entire meals completely, going about their days hungry, and worrying about when they will eat next just so they can afford their medications.
Your food bank is committed to solving the issue of senior hunger in our community so that seniors who live here can enjoy everything Southwest Florida has to offer. Healthy seniors result in a healthier community. With the anticipated growth of the senior population, we must ensure that our elderly neighbors are receiving food that nourishes their bodies and enriches their hearts. Our Care and Share Senior Feeding Program bridges the gap between seniors who are hungry in our community and food that meets their unique nutritional needs. On a monthly basis, thousands of enrolled seniors receive one of our prepackaged Care and Share food kits to prevent them from needing to skip lunch just to cover other expenses. Not only are these kits filled with a variety of healthy options, such as shelf-stable fruits, vegetables, proteins, cheeses and grains, but they also include easy-to-prepare meals so that seniors like Eugene can still eat well without needing to spend a lot of time on their feet cooking.
Can we count on you to help us reach the challenge grant goal of $350,000? We need the generosity of many to fulfill our mission and distribute nutritious meals far and wide across our five-county footprint to those in need. Your support today will give our senior residents the most compassionate gift of all – food. No senior in our community should have to choose between eating breakfast and receiving medication.
To support our Care and Share Senior Feeding Program, click here.
PS: Don’t wait! Make your gift today to be fully matched by the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation challenge grant! Help us feed seniors who are hungry in our community.