January 24, 2012

Building Solutions to Hunger kicks into high gear

Author: Greg Higgerson

One of the most often-heard sentiments expressed at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida these days is that ‘We’ve run out of space, but we haven’t run out of need.”

As the number of our neighbors who need help with food continues to remain at historic levels, it is essential that our community continue working to close the gap between the amount of food needed, and the amount available. The good news is that there is no shortage of ‘extra’ food resources in our society. That’s not the problem. The main challenges faced in our work today lie in creating adequate infrastructure to take more full advantage of the bountiful food that exists in Florida, and throughout our country.

We’re extremely proud of the growth and community impact that our current facility has made possible over the past sixteen years, but very mindful of the limitations of capacity that now exist. Sadly, nearly four million pounds of wholesome, nutritious food products are having to be turned away each year due to lack of adequate facilities.    Read More …

January 20, 2012

Fashion for Compassion

Author: Jen Gibson

What could be better than an event encompassing wine, women, and shoes? Nothing in our eyes! Coming up on April 28, 2012 we will be holding our Second Annual Wine Women & Shoes Fundraising event at Rosen Shingle Creek.

For those of you who weren’t able to attend last year it’s an afternoon filled with fabulous fashion, delectable hors d’oeuvres, and of course sensational wine. The afternoon begins with shopping at designers and boutiques around the room as wine is poured and hors d’ oeuvres are tasted. “Shoe guys” float around the room and showcase shoes and other accessories on shiny silver platters. Read More …

January 19, 2012

Agency Spotlight: Agency Relations Doing Client Intake

Author: Erin Gray

One of the duties of Second Harvest’s Agency Relations Department is to not only monitor but make sure our partner agencies are receiving everything they need from us.  Our Agency Relations team thought it would be a good idea to volunteer with our agencies to get a different perspective of how the agencies serve their clients in need.

The first Agency Relations Coordinator to volunteer and write about this experience is Paula Assal.

Read about her experience below:

Read More …

January 19, 2012

Volunteers Make a World of Difference

Author: Mindy Ortiz

One of the coolest things about my job is getting to meet all the different people that volunteer with us. We have quite a range of volunteer opportunities at Second Harvest. Our board members, committee members and event helpers are all volunteers. So besides important tasks like strategy, planning, and running the food bank’s mission, our volunteers spend lots of time sorting food at our Food Rescue Center.

On average, we can have close to 50 volunteers on a daily basis. This week alone, we have volunteers  from Universal Orlando, Marriott, Panera Bread, Nike Outlet, UCF, Walt Disney World and Dean, Ringers, Morton and Lawton helping out at our Food Rescue Center.

All of these volunteers come in to help us sort and pack up donations. They help us organize, check expiration dates and basically make sure that what is going out to our partner agencies is safe and of quality. I can’t imagine what we would do if we didn’t have these volunteers. Read More …

January 17, 2012

Holiday Food Drop

Author: Santos Maldonado

Early on the bright and crisp morning of Saturday, December 17^th, three large Second Harvest trucks filled with 52,464 pounds of emergency food boxes and fresh produce got ready to roll toward six Orange County public schools. Second Harvest staff and management gathered in the parking lot to work out last minute details. Dave Krepcho, Second Harvest President and CEO, was first to rumble out of the lot and toward Hungerford Elementary School.

At the schools, families of students were already lined up in anticipation, as enthusiastic volunteers prepared for an orderly distribution. The energetic volunteers, young, old and in between, had been recruited and organized by Orange County Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services. They worked like a finely tuned orchestra, handling every surprise with patience, smiles and lots of laughs. Read More …