December 14, 2009

Partner Agencies Working Together to Save Thanksgiving

Author: Erin Gray

At Second Harvest we have over 600 partner agencies who together help to fight and end hunger.  One of our partner agencies in Orange County is Mt. Sinai Seventh-Day Adventist Church.  Their food pantry is open every Wednesday from 1 p.m. -6 p.m. to help feed individuals and families in need. They are one of our larger agencies, and they serve over 1000 individuals each month from their pantry.  We talked to Amy Walker from Mt. Sinai Seventh Day Adventist church for a success story, and she shared their Thanksgiving experience with us.

This year for Thanksgiving, the volunteers at the church were able to feed 2,501 of: Orlando’s low income residents, disabled, and the senior citizen, and homeless population in the Parramore district with a unique mobile outreach concept. Reaching out this way is particularly effective for those who have difficulty making it to a food pantry.

“Most of the people we were able to feed were because we knocked on their door. Some of the people we saw were amputees or blind and the rest was mostly senior citizens. The majority of them were in no condition to come out of their homes and stand in line especially in the rain. We had to go to them!” says Pastor Herman L. Davis.

Pastor Davis and his team spent two years redesigning their Thanksgiving distribution to feed many more people. Unlike past years the church had access to two large mobile units that can fully prepare and cook upward of 10,000 hot meals at any location it’s driven too. This allowed the volunteers to go to the people that needed their care the most, rather than have individuals to find them.

After an entire day of cooking prep, the Mt. Sinai Community Outreach Volunteer team was ready for their first stop. At 1 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve served a menu of collard greens, mixed greens, curried egg plants, turkey breast, rice and gravy, baked whole turkey and mash potatoes, which some of the food for the meals were received from Second Harvest.  And they served 900 hot meals while people waited in light rain.   Later that day the team was joined by Loving Hut restaurant who had witnessed what the volunteers were accomplishing and wanted to join in and help. Loving Hut  prepared an additional 200 vegetarian meals consisting of egg rolls, rice, and vegetables.

On Thanksgiving Day a three man team; Pastor Davis, Ken Unick, and Dave Worrell distributed another 700 hot meals donated by the Salvation Army to the Maxwell Terrace community which are both partner agencies of Second Harvest Food Bank. A third wave of volunteers went out again on the Sunday immediately following Thanksgiving Day and fed an additional 501 people. While this initiative had been planned well in advance the outcome is still unbelievable.

The volunteers have returned to their bi-weekly Wednesday food distributions from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. where they package a week’s worth of groceries for the public at the church located at 2600 Orange Center Blvd. Orlando, FL 32805. “Mt. Sinai is full of compassionate people who are dedicated to touching the individual lives of the community, these volunteers are a blessing and serious about the impact of our outreach,” says member Timotheie Aurelien.

Erin Gray
Agency Relations Manager

November 20, 2009

The Monday After Scouting For Food, Our Busiest Day of the Year

Author: Erin Gray

Scouting for Food was this past Saturday November 14th and with the help of Boy Scouts, volunteers, and Second Harvest staff, we were able to collect over 180,000 pounds of food at our Brengle Warehouse in Orlando. Second Harvest Food Bank receives a portion of what Scouting for Food collects in Central Florida. We are grateful to be part of this wonderful event.

The Boy Scouts would bring truck loads of bags they had gathered from the houses in different neighborhoods to our collection sites. Then the sites boxed up the donations for distribution the following Monday.

Photos taken from one of our collection sites:

Photos taken by: Occasional Photo

After the food was collected and boxed up it was sent to our warehouse on Brengle Avenue in Orlando so that our Partner Agencies that have Emergency Food Pantries in the Orange and Seminole Counties could receive the food and distribute to their clients. The following Monday always looks like a caravan all lined up at our docks ready to go fight hunger in their neighborhood.

On Monday, November 16th the food was ready for pick by the agencies.  On a typical day we service about 25 agencies. This past Monday, our warehouse went into overdrive to serve over 164 agencies. We had as many as five agencies every 15 minutes.  Each agency vehicle’s shock absorbers got a workout as vans, trucks, and a couple compact cars were loaded up.

We were also very lucky that we had received a very large shipment of Sweet Potatoes so quite a few of the partner agencies received about a pallet or so to distribute along with the food drive. 

The Thanksgiving holiday is approaching and with food received from the Scouting for Food our Partner agencies will be able to distribute and help more families this season.

Erin Gray
Agency Relations Manager
egray@foodbankcentralflorida.org

November 12, 2009

Unexpected Outreach

Author: Brady Koch

This past Saturday our Benefits Connection food stamp outreach team participated in an large scale workshop and information session for homeowners facing foreclosure.

 Hundreds of people attended the event organized by the state of Florida and many of them were able to find assistance with our team.

Many people are surprised with the face of hunger in our community. Many of the families and individuals we help are employed, yet unable to make ends meet. Layoffs, cutbacks, and medical emergencies are making it more and more challenging for people to provide food to their family.

Because of these economic challenges, our Benefits Connections team has been asked to participate in more and more unexpected outreach events. This month alone we’ll be providing outreach at large businesses, libraries, resource fairs, and schools. This is above and beyond the community centers, church pantries, and nonprofits that we normally provide help to.

If you’re interested in learning more about our Benefits Connection program (or are interested in one of those awesome Second Harvest toast shirts our team is modeling) please contact me.

For more information about where our Benefits Connection Team will be at during the rest of the month, please call our main number 407-423-7333.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs
bkoch@foodbankcentralflorida.org

September 14, 2009

A Local Look at the 2009 Economic Impact Results

Author: Brady Koch

This morning Feeding America, the national organization that coordinates the efforts of 205 food banks throughout the nation, released the 2009 Economic Impact Survey results. This survey was presented to food banks, their partner agencies, and the clients served at these agencies. Sadly, the overall findings aren’t shocking. With a recession and rising unemployment, the demand for hunger relief in America is growing at an alarming rate.

The demand for food has grown an estimated 30% nationally. More than half (55%) of food banks reported that they or the agencies who help distribute the food they provide have had to turn people away in the last year. These national numbers mirror those collected in Central Florida by our local food pantries and soup kitchens.

In my position with the food bank I get to see these statistics embodied on a daily basis. I can attest that 98% of our agencies are seeing first-time clients and that 56% of our agencies are seeing large increases in children needing hunger relief. Ultimately, I also witness the sobering fact that 78% of partner agencies on the national level have had to reduce the amount of food provided or the frequency of food distributions in their community.

Absolutely every one of the volunteers and staff at our 539 partner feeding programs has the passion to fight hunger. Lately the need has been relentless and our partners haven be working, stretching and digging deep to provide for their community. It is an honor to partner with nonprofits and faith-based operations that give so much and ask for nothing in return.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida was able to provide over 21 million lbs of food to local pantries and kitchens last year and as is evident in the survey results, we need to provide more. Hunger has a solution, and we would like you to be a part of it. Please contact me to learn more about ways you can help fight hunger in Central Florida.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
407.295.1066 ext. 30
bkoch@foodbankcentralflorida.org