September 13, 2011

AARP Day of Service at Second Harvest Food Bank

Author: Maria Diestro

Let’s hear it for AARP! This year, they have made a major commitment to hunger among older Americans. Our CEO, Dave Krepcho, wrote about it in his “Hunger and the Daytona 500?” blog post in February.

Well this year, AARP designated Friday, September 9 as it’s Day of Service where the main focus was also hunger. On this day staff and volunteers nationwide went out to serve in their local communities.

How is this related to Second Harvest? Well, on Friday, September 9 we had 60 Winter Park AARP volunteers at our sorting facility putting together senior packs. Basically, they took over the food bank on that day and put together 5,452 senior food packs. Pretty amazing, right? 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 …

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 …

February 10, 2011

Italian Feast!

Author: Maria Diestro

Two weeks ago I was invited to attend the Thomson Reuters National Marketing Convention held at the JW Marriott Orlando. The convention hosted over 600 employees from locations worldwide. On this particular evening, the group was participating in a team building activity. You might be asking: How can 600 people participate in one activity? and why was I even invited here in the first place?

Instead of participating in a quick team building game, Thomson Reuters decided to give back to the community through a service project. What better way to get to know your fellow employees than by having a cooking session with them, right? They decided to have a lasagna making contest!

 During the planning stages we were approached to see if we would like to be the beneficiary of the 375 lasagna dinners. Of course Second Harvest jumped on the offer and began planning the transportation and delivery process for the meals.

That night I started off the evening by saying a few things about Second Harvest and the hunger we face here in our  Central Florida community. I couldn’t believe how many people were there! Each team made lasagna dinners which included salads and cannolis. The teams were headed up by a chef from the hotel who helped and instructed them on how to put together all of the components of the meal.

The employees of Thomson Reuters provided dinners for 1,500 people here in the Central Florida community. What an amazing task done in such a short amount of time! The employees that I spoke to were very excited to be giving back in such a large way. It was great to see a company create an event that was so much fun for its employees while also helping people outside of their group in such an important way. Thanks to Thomson Reuters, 1,500 people in Central Florida received a true Italian feast the following night!

pictures:

 

Jen Gibson
Volunteer Services and Food Drive Assistant

August 24, 2010

New USDA Pilot to Feed more Kids During the Summer

Author: Brady Koch

This summer, we’ve provided Central Florida kids with over 42,000 meals at a variety of community programs through the Summer Food Service Program. Additionally we reach thousands of children through our Benefits Connection food stamp outreach program.

The USDA is considering a pilot program that will merge both programs into a benefit hybrid that is designed to provide children with food during the Summer when they don’t have access to the Free and Reduced Meal Program.

News Article: 16 Million Hungry Kids, 1 New Idea for Feeding Them

 What do you think of the idea? It could potentially reach many more children, but what about the accountability of the EBT cards? Hopefully Florida will participate in the pilot and we can provide even more meals to kids next summer.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs