Friday, April 9, 2021
This Saturday, April 10, 2021, Harry Chapin Food Bank is teaming up with Publix Super Markets for the annual Feeding Southwest Florida food drive. We are grateful to Publix Super Markets for their partnership in the fight to end hunger. This year due to the pandemic and persistent challenges within the supply chains, the food drive will be much smaller and held at ten Publix Super Markets in Lee county only. The food drive will be held from 9am until 3pm.
Publix customers at the participating stores will be greeted by food bank employees and volunteers with displays of the most needed shelf-stable food items. These same employees and volunteers will help shoppers collect the items after they are purchased. If you are unable to visit a participating Publix store, click here for the virtual Feeding Southwest Florida food drive so that you can be a part of this noble effort. These food drives will support the food bank as they feed more than a quarter of a million people each month who are hungry.
Sourcing food remains a challenge for the food bank. Our food sourcing team has pivoted from a primarily food rescue to a food purchasing team. Their budget has skyrocketed from $37,500 to $1 million per month. The food we can rescue continues to fluctuate each week. We continue to struggle with receiving our food purchases, creating challenges in the logistics of managing nearly a million pounds of food each week.
Despite the relentless challenges we have faced, we remain committed that no one should go hungry. Because of the help of so many in our community, we proudly distributed 978,354 pounds of food into our five-county footprint this week.
Thank you to the participating Publix Super Markets listed below. Together, we are making a difference.
- 6900 Daniels Parkway, Fort Myers
- 5781 Lee Boulevard, Lehigh Acres
- 11600 Gladiolus Drive, Fort Myers
- 5997 S Pointe Boulevard, Fort Myers
- 15880 Summerlin Road, Fort Myers
- 13650 Fiddlesticks Boulevard, Fort Myers
- 7950 Dani Drive, Fort Myers
- 13401 Summerlin Road, Fort Myers
- 1324 Homestead Road North, Lehigh Acres
- 13121 Paul J Doherty Parkway, Fort Myers
If you are well, able, and willing to volunteer, please click here to sign up.
If you’d like to participate in Feeding Southwest Florida but cannot attend in person, you can still give food or funds through our virtual food drive. To participate, click here.