Archive for the 'Feeding Partner Stories' Category

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 …

November 18, 2011

Hi-Five Kids Pack Program Update

Author: Maria Diestro

With the holidays rapidly approaching, most of us are preparing for a time of celebration and gift-giving. Yet for many children attending Central Florida Public Schools, this season will prove to be a particularly difficult one.

As many as 222,000* Central Florida students are receiving free or reduced cost lunches through the federally subsidized School Lunch Program because their families are struggling.

As a way of addressing this need Second Harvest is providing 18 Orange County elementary schools with Hi-Five Kids Packs – Kid friendly, shelf-stable packets of food product meant for weekend consumption. Each pack provides enough caloric content for a day to youngsters 6 to 8 years old.

In Orange County, which has 125 elementary schools, almost one fourth have free-lunch eligibility rates exceeding 95%. Osceola County reports a disturbing figure indicating that 70% of their students are now on the  eligible list for free lunch, up from 63% four years ago. * Read More …

July 25, 2011

Because Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation

Author: Maria Diestro

I recently accompanied Santos Maldonado, our Childhood Hunger Programs Manager to take pictures of some of our Summer Feeding sites. Second Harvest currently sponsors 20 sites. Working with a major local food vendor, we are able to provide meals and snacks to children in low-income areas during the critical time when they lack access to school cafeterias.

As compared to June 2010, meals distributed doubled, from 12,642 to 25,753, making this the largest monthly increase since the program began. I will make sure to post an update for July when those numbers are available. I also learned that one of our most satisfying development this year is the expansion into Osceola County, specifically along the 192 corridor where many children of homeless families live in the motels. Read More …

March 23, 2011

Osceola Produce and Baked Goods Drop

Author: Erin Gray

Ripe fruit, colorful vegetables, and fresh baked goods … some of the most sought after product at the food bank!

Sometimes it is hard for Second Harvest Food Bank to get these food items to all of the counties in our service area. We are thankful for the Osceola Community Vision for letting us know that Osceola County needed more fruit, veggies, and baked goods. This is why Second Harvest created the Produce and Baked Goods Drop.

Osceola Council of Aging was gracious enough to be the host site for this monthly drop off. Second Harvest Food Bank dropped off 10 pallets of produce and 10 pallets of baked goods. We had 18 partner agencies that came out with volunteers who helped load up their vehicles with all of the wonderful product. Our partner agencies then distributed the food to their clients, which consists of people in need in Osceola County.

These drops are a win/win for everyone. We are excited to be able to reach out to agencies that usually aren’t able to get this product and our agencies were happy that the drop was close and they could offer a variety of fruits, veggies, and baked goods to their clients.

We will continue to schedule these special drops on a monthly basis to ensure that our neighbors in need in Osceola County will be able to eat more nutritious and wholesome foods.

Erin Gray
Agency Relations Manager

December 28, 2010

Meet our Partners: The Place of Comfort

Author: Erin Gray

Every year, Second Harvest provides food to approximately 731,900 individuals through our partner agencies. I want to take a moment to profile one of our nearly 500 partner agencies: The Place of Comfort.

The Place of Comfort has four locations that serve Osceola, Orange, Lake and Seminole Counties.  I went to the Seminole County location to talk to them and see how their organization operates.

A large portion of their clients that are afflicted with HIV/AIDS.  The agency averages 2,000 total clients for all four counties served every month.  The Place of Comfort offers other services for the HIV/ AIDS clients along with food assistance, such as rent assistance, utility assistance and counseling.

For Thanksgiving, they distributed over 200 turkey baskets for people and families affected with HIV/AIDS.  The Place of Comfort works in collaboration to purchase the turkey baskets with one of our other Partner Agencies Joy MCC in Orlando.

For Christmas, The Place of Comfort conducted a toy drive at Regions Bank in Longwood.  The toy drive helped approximately 25 of their HIV/AIDS families and children.

If you are interested in learning more about Place of Comfort, please visit http://www.placeofcomfort.org/ 

Erin Gray
Agency Relations Manager