February 1, 2012

Eatonville Boys & Girls Club’s Kids Café

Author: Santos Maldonado

Eatonville Boys & Girls Club’s Kids Cafe welcomed over 120 youngsters with a hot afterschool meal on its opening day. The club sits in the heart of historic Eatonville; the nation’s oldest established African-American township. It is a stone’s throw from Hungerford Elementary and draws more than 200 students from nearby elementary, middle, and high schools.

Joyce Davis, who prepared  the meals, tell us that before Kids Cafe, children would receive small snacks consisting of bagels or cheese perhaps two or three times weekly, without regularity.

Second Harvest Food Bank, with the support of the Winter Park Health Foundation, has made it possible for these children to rely on a wholesome meal each and every day while school is in session. During the summer, Second Harvest will sponsor the club so that it may participate in the Summer Food Service Program which helps bridge the nutritional gap when children lack access to school cafeterias. 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 …

September 12, 2011

Red Lobster Helps Fight Hunger in Central Florida

Author: Sasha Hausman

What do you think of when you hear the words “Red Lobster”? If you would have asked me a month ago I would have yelled “Cheddar Bay Biscuits!!” without skipping a beat (are those the best or what?). But now when someone mentions Red Lobster, I can only think of one word…heart.

Over the past 2 weeks Darden had the pleasure of hosting over 900 Red Lobster Managers from all of the country. They were here for their annual Leadership Conference at the Hilton Bonnet Creek. The folks from Red Lobster reached out to Darden and said they wanted to do something meaningful during their stay here. So that is where our story begins. Read More …

September 1, 2011

You Need it More Than Me

Author: Greg Higgerson

Once a month, teachers at an Orange County elementary school receive a delivery of small, shrink-wrapped packages. These packs include kid-friendly food items that are calorically-correct for an elementary-age student for two days.  On Fridays, teachers move from room to room, slipping the precious weekend food packs into the backpacks of the students that they know are at the greatest risk of being hungry when school begins again on Monday.  

Matthew is an eight-year old student at this school. One Friday afternoon, he eagerly opened his backpack before heading for home. His instant disappointment quickly turned to tears when he saw no food pack inside.   Read More …

August 31, 2011

3 easy ways to get involved during Hunger Action Month

Author: Maria Diestro

Hunger Action Month starts today!  While we always need your involvement with Second Harvest Food Bank all year round, we do try to make it extra easy and fun in September!

Second Harvest, in conjunction with Feeding America and 205 other food banks nationwide are participating in the Third Annual Hunger Action Month. The goal of this month is to mobilize people to get involved with fighting hunger in America.

Read More …