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.

At East River High School, a seemingly endless line of vehicles stretched off into the distance. Volunteers quickly began filling trunks and backseats with food boxes. A couple pulled up on a motorcycle. They left with saddlebags brimming.

At Cheney Elementary the turnout was even more dramatic. By then, the local media had reported the event and many families on foot were patiently waiting as we pulled in. Youngsters helped carry boxes to parked cars while others filled bags with fresh produce. Smiling faces and expressions of gratitude made an already sunny day that much brighter.

Similar scenes played out at Evans High, Ivey Lane Elementary and Glenridge Middle Schools. Nearly 1,400 families worried less about having food to eat during the two week break from school when children lack access to school cafeterias.

This has been our largest Holiday Food Drop to-date and it was all done within the space of four hours.

Thanks to our partners, the Winter Park Health Foundation and Orange County Public Schools’ Food and Nutrition Services, as well as to the volunteers who helped make the face-to-face link between our work and the community at large.

Photos from the day:

Santos Maldonado
Childhood Hunger Programs Manager

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. *

Childhood Hunger and food insecurity are on the rise, not just locally but nationwide. Participation in the program has increased dramatically as we weather the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Free school lunches do not address what occurs when children lack access to school cafeterias over the weekend. The Hi-Five program helps narrow that nutritional gap. Additionally, studies clearly show a correlation between proper nutrition and academic performance.

Our Hi-Five program has grown from 5 schools in 2006 to a projected 20 schools this year. To-date, Second Harvest has gotten more than 134,000 packs into the hands and tummies of needy children.

Our latest addition is Tildenville Elementary which received its first delivery this week. By December, Cape View Elementary in Brevard County will join the others.  Our hope is that the Hi-Five program will not only feed children, but help ease the economic burden experienced by struggling families.

As one parent told a faculty member not long ago: “I rely on the food I get from the school to calculate my monthly budget.”

*Sources:

Laura Kozar, Food and Nutrition Services OCPS
Free-school-lunch program soars as more area families struggle – Orlando Sentinel, Dave Weber

Santos Maldonado
Childhood Hunger Programs Manager

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.

 Thank you!

This year we also pushed the color of hunger relief, Orange.  Huge thanks to everyone that wore Orange in September in support of Hunger Action Month. 

Below is a slideshow of orange shirts that were worn during HAM:

A special thanks to the City of Orlando! The City got involved and lit the Lake Eola Fountain Orange!

“The City of Orlando is lighting the iconic fountain in Downtown’s Lake Eola Park the color orange this September in support of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida’s Hunger Action Month campaign,” says Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.  “The City is committed to draw attention to help address the problem of hunger and poverty in Central Florida. We hope that the orange glow of the fountain will prompt local citizens to take the pledge to fight hunger and do what  they can to help feed those in need in our community.”

This year we also launched http://www.CFLHungerAction.org! We will continue to use the site to highlight future events and to post community food drives. So make sure to check back soon because the fall is always filled with so many amazing events that the Central Florida community puts together for us.  

Thank you for helping to Fight Hunger and Feed Hope this September!

We hope you continue to follow us this fall. Below are some links that will help keep you updated:

• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter
• Receive our E-news
• Sign up for a Food for Thought Tour

Did you like our 30 Ways in 30 Days Calendar? What other types of events would you like to see more of next year during Hunger Action Month?

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager

Definition of a HOGstar (noun), a person who supported the Hogs Against Hunger fundraiser and ride to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida’s Hi-Five program. 

Hogstars come in many different forms. Some purchased raffle tickets online or at an event. Some shared or retweeted about the fundraiser. Some came out to participate in a ride down I-4 last Sunday. Some sold tickets in the Harley stores, and some volunteered to spread the word. Finally some spent tireless hours organizing and working the events. But no matter what kind of HOGstar you were, you were able to help raise over $45,000 to feed children in need in our community by purchasing $10 raffle tickets to win a 2011 Harley-Davidson Road King Classic.

What does $45,000 look like? That is 17,000 nutritious meals going straight to needy children who do not have access to school cafeterias during the weekend. We started the Hi-Five Kids Pack Program when educators came to us looking for a solution to providing weekend food for the neediest of their students. Students were coming to school sick and unable to learn because they had not eaten since their school lunch the previous Friday.

Special thanks to the 450 riders who came out to the Police Escorted I-4 ride on Sunday. We had a blast and hope you did too. We started out Downtown Disney where we saw an amazing performance from the Drill Team. The ride started and the convoy went down I-4 to the Orlando Harley-Davidson I-4 Historic Factory Dealership. Once the riders parked then the party started with food, drinks, and entertainment from Orange Avenue. Everyone was waiting anxiously for the big announcement on who would win the 2011 Road King Classic!

Below are some photos of the ride and the after-party:

 
Congratulations to Bob Touchette of Oviedo for being our Grand Prize winner of the Road King Classic!

Of course none of this would be possible without the generous folks at Orlando Harley-Davidson. Special thank you to Anne Deli, Mike Case, Amanda Duitsman, Kate Hoffman, Michele Sullivan, Matt Santamarina, and all of the Orlando Harley-Davidson staff that worked so hard to put this initiative together. Second Harvest is so very lucky to have them as a supporter, donor, and friend. It was so amazing to see a group of people working so hard for a cause they felt passionate for. If we haven’t said it enough … thank you!!

Central Florida News 13 Video Coverage:

Sasha Hausman
Development Manager

Calling all fabulous women of Central Florida!  Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is thrilled to announce our first annual Wine, Women & Shoes fundraising event.  Picture it now. You and your girlfriends on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, enjoying a girl’s day in, shopping the latest trends in shoes, handbags and accessories from premiere boutiques, sipping wine from vineyards hailing all the way from wine country, nibbling on tasty morsels prepared by Orlando’s very own Chef Jean Louis.  Can you see it yet?

Imagine strutting into the Royal Plaza on Saturday, April 23rd, decked out in the special shoes you’ve had waiting to make their debut.  Let the wine tasting and shoe shopping begin!  You notice that there are good looking men dressed in all black carrying shoes on silver platters.  Who are these men, you ask?  Meet our Shoe Guys, here to highlight featured merchandise from the different vendors.  Ask them about the shoes they are carrying and find out where you can buy them. You will be treated to a live fashion show and a live auction. 

Grab your friends for a photo shoot and experience being a cover girl for the day with Orange Appeal Magazine.  There will be an impressive silent auction and my personal favorite raffle item where you can win “A Key to the Closet.” 

If this day doesn’t already sound absolutely perfect, remember, IT’S ALL FOR CHARITY!  100% of ticket sales, silent auction, and Key to The Closet raffle are going to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida to help fight hunger in our very own community, as well as 20% of all marketplace purchases.  So come to sip, shop and support a great cause!

If this sounds like the event you’ve been waiting for, check for more information at http://www.winewomenandshoes.com/secondharvest.  And remember, in Central Florida, the perfect journey ALWAYS begins with a pair of fabulous shoes!

Sheyanne Cohron
Event Specialist

p.s. If you are on Facebook, check out Wine Women & Shoes Orlando

Your support of Second Harvest Food Bank has made an impact in lives of thousands of Central Florida seniors, children, and families this past year.

Here’s a look at our accomplishments:

- Second Harvest distributed 24,764,248 pounds of food to more than 500 partner feeding programs in our 6 county-wide service area.

- Our Kids Cafe program served, prepared or catered meals to 164,155 children at 13 kids cafe’s in 3 counties.

- During the summer, we served 43,188 meals for school age children at 17 sites in Orange County through our Summer Feeding program. Through a grant from ConAgra we were also able to provide the kids with 15,773 take-home, shelf-stable food packs for the weekends.

- Our Hi-Five Kids packs program distributed 31,245 shelf-stable food packs to needy children at 18 elementary schools. These packs are designed to help bridge the nutritional gap that exists during weekends, when children lack access to school cafeterias.

- An amazing 1,227,100 pounds of non-perishable grocery products were collected in fiscal 2009/2010 through our Community Food Drives.

- Our Benefits Connection program secured over $14 million in food stamp benefits for Central Floridians. In addition to food stamp benefits, our specialists also signed clients up for Medicaid and Cash Assistance, and provided referrals to a network of collaborating agencies.

- Second Harvest Food Bank set up an online advocacy center and urged congressional leaders to fully fund and pass Child Nutrition Reauthorization. The Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill was passed last week in Congress!

Whether you volunteered, gave a special gift, contacted your elected officials, or simply were part of our online community, YOU helped thousands of Central Floridians this year. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Dave Krepcho
President & CEO

On January 30th, Second Harvest Food Bank and New Covenant Church participated in our Produce to the People Program. Through this partnership with New Covenant Church, we were able to provide more food to individuals in Orange County on this day. Since the church is located in a part of East Orange County where there are few food pantries, the food distributed was made available to many that normally would not receive it.

This was our sixth Produce to the People mobile drop that we have enlisted our partner agencies to be a part of. With this program, Second Harvest Food Bank drops off ten pallets of fruits, vegetables and bakery items at a mobile location. These items usually have a short shelve life span or are perishable. 

The majority of the produce we received was from the gleaning that the Society of St. Andrews volunteers collected. New Covenant Church received two pallets of potatoes and three pallets of oranges that were recently gleaned from farms. The remaining pallets for the agency’s distribution were two pallets of bottled juice and four pallets of assorted bread and bakery products.  

700+ families showed up at New Covenant for the normal Saturday distribution only to find that there were an additional 11 pallets of fresh items waiting for them to take home. Both New Covenant Church and its clients were extremely happy to be receiving this additional food.

Because of our Partnership with our Partner Agencies, donors and people like Society of St. Andrews, we were able be a part of the Fight to End Hunger.

Slideshow:

Erin Gray
Agency Relations Manager

This past Saturday we partnered with Orange County Public Schools and the Winter Park Health Foundation to provide food to families this holiday season. The two week break from school can be especially difficult to children who rely on the free and reduced school lunch program. With this in mind, we gathered a team of volunteers, 22,000 lbs of food and marketed the weekend food distribution to children participating in our Hi-Five program at eight of the schools located near our two distribution sites.

 When I arrived at Cheney Elementary on Saturday, there were already some families there over an hour and a half earlier than our scheduled starting time. We had 10 palettes of potatoes, oranges, bread , pastries, and pantry boxes filled with 14 common items like peanut butter and tuna. As the morning went on, we ended up distributing food to 450 families at Cheney and Hungerford Elementary.

A couple of the stories stood out to me that demonstrated how our community comes together in times of need. Two mothers whose families received food that morning returned to our site to volunteer the rest of the day. Another mother, who had no transportation, walked for two hours to get to our site. She was willing to physically carry all of the food back home. Thankfully, another volunteer loaded up her groceries and drove her home.

A father and son rode to our site on bicycles and a pair of volunteers tried their best to safely load the bicycles with any food that they could carry. When another recipient family saw this they offered to take the father and son, bicycles, and food back home.

While we know it isn’t enough food for two entire weeks in meals it was enough to make an immediate difference in these families’ lives. It was a great way to come together as a community and fight hunger in Central Florida.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs