Friday, October 9, 2020
As we move into the seventh month of the Coronavirus pandemic, your food bank remains steadfast in its mission to lead our community in the fight to end hunger. We are ever mindful that we serve as the safety net of the community and that our actions ensure that a quarter of a million people have access to nutritious foods.
Your food bank has faced significant challenges since this pandemic began. Our decision-making process always begins and ends with the question: will we be better positioned to achieve our mission by getting food into the hands of those who are hungry?
The experience of hunger can happen regardless of one’s politics, ethnicity, religion, health, or socioeconomic status. Hunger in America and in our community has grown exponentially since the pandemic. We believe that the economic crisis caused by the pandemic will have a lasting effect. Many of the families we serve have never experienced hunger. These are people from all walks of life, with one commonality: hunger. Thankfully, because of the support of so many in our community, we provide desperately needed nutritious food. If you are looking for food, please click here.
This week, your food bank has distributed 877,327 pounds of food into the community. We rely on volunteers to help us to build and distribute nearly 7,000 food kits each week which we distribute at our drive-thru distributions. We continue to struggle to find those who are well, willing, and able to volunteer. If you are willing to volunteer, please click here
Your food bank provides more than 70% of the inventory of the food pantries across southwest Florida. Since the start of the pandemic, our food distribution has ballooned by 83 percent. We now help feed a quarter of a million people who are hungry each month in in our five-county footprint. To meet the enormous demand, your food bank has increased its spending on food from roughly $37,500 a month to one million dollars per month.
We remain committed to fighting hunger and we are very grateful to our generous supporters that are helping us to ensure that no one has to go hungry.
To support our efforts, please click here.
If you are looking for food, please click here.
If you are well, able, and willing to volunteer, please click here to sign up.