October 14, 2011

Canstruction Orlando 2011: Wonders of the World

Author: Sasha Hausman

On October 16, Orlando Fashion Square will host the 18th annual CANSTRUCTION® – Orlando competition. During the competition,13 teams consisting of top local architects, engineers, contractors, designers, Girl Scout Troops, and high schools will gather to design and build spectacular giant-sized objects, approximately 8’ x 8’ x 8’, made entirely from canned and nonperishable foods.

This year’s theme? Wonders of the World!

The WONDERful structures will stay up at Orlando Fashion Square all week long until Sunday, October 23rd. So if you can’t make it to the build on Sunday…you have the whole week to stop by! Read More …

October 14, 2011

Paper Plate Campaign – Part 2

Author: Jen Gibson

When we began working on our Paper Plate Campaign I wasn’t sure what response to expect or how willing people would be to share their personal stories. Over the past month though; we have collected over 700 plates from sixteen of our partner agencies here in Central Florida. 

We have asked our neighbors who are receiving food assistance to share exactly what this food means to them and their families. Many people have shared the importance of food stamps for their families and how the emergency food they receive at pantries helps get them through the end of the month. Some families have even shared pieces of their stories which have led them to rely on help from others. Read More …

October 13, 2011

Not the Brady Bunch …

Author: Greg Higgerson

Christina is a native of Maine, and a 40-year old mother of three children. After working for years as an LPN nurse in her hometown, Christina and her family packed up, left their apartment, and moved to Orlando.  

Her husband had gotten a new job in our area as the driver of an 18-wheeler, and she had heard about lots of opportunity in healthcare jobs in Florida. In his first week on the new job, Christina’s husband was badly injured in a crash. One of his legs was broken up so badly that he nearly lost it. Not only would he be unable to go back to work quickly, but it became clear that he would likely be permanently disabled from the accident.     Read More …

September 28, 2011

Another Successful Hunger Action Month

Author: Maria Diestro

It feels like just yesterday I was just finalizing our 30 Ways in 30 Days Hunger Action Month calendar.  I am devoting this blog post to all those who got involved with this year’s HAM and thanking everyone that helped make it happen. This year we did some new and exciting things to help raise awareness about hunger in our community.

The goal of our calendar was to show that even small actions can make a deep impact on the problem of hunger. We were super excited to receive a lot of positive feedback and can’t wait to make next year even bigger and better!

Hunger Action Month would not be possible without the support of our community partners.  They held partial proceeds nights at their restaurants, donated food, organized events for us and even let us join in their monthly community events. All our partners were very supportive and helped get the word out about Hunger Action Month. Read More …

September 26, 2011

We’ve run out of space, but not out of need …

Author: Greg Higgerson

As our nation and community weathers the toughest economic times in many decades, the numbers of our neighbors in need of food continue to grow larger. It should not come as a surprise to learn that Second Harvest Food Bank continues to push forward in our mission, and has continued to deliver record distributions of food each year throughout our history and even through the recession years. What may come as a surprise to some, however, is that such vital, steady growth has temporarily come to an end.

The more than 33 million pounds of grocery products distributed by Second Harvest Food Bank over the past 12 months has pushed the envelope of our organization’s infrastructure to its very limit and beyond.

How do we know? We know because there was no place to put millions of pounds of additional fruits, vegetables and other nutritious items that could have helped people. Our cooler and freezer space wasn’t adequate to handle the food that was available. Dry storage has exceeded capacity as well. Read More …