Adding one refrigerated storage trailer at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida branch in Ocala has increased access to nutritious food for thousands of Marion County neighbors.
A second Conex box, an insulated, climate-controlled shipping container, was installed at the branch earlier this year to increase storage capacity for perishable foods such as produce, dairy products and meat that are the overflow from the facility’s main cooler and freezer.
“These boxes are very versatile,” said Marion County Branch Director Peter Del Toro. “We can turn the thermostat down to zero degrees and put frozen product in them.”
Both Conex boxes have enabled Second Harvest to receive, store and distribute larger quantities of bakery, dairy, deli, frozen, produce and meat donations.
The 40-by-8-feet wide boxes have 18 pallet positions and have increased the branch’s storage capacity by about 75%. Made possible by a June H. Jones Foundation grant, the additional storage reduces the risk of good food going to waste and having to turn perishable food donations away.
The branch’s ability to store more perishable items has allowed it to perform four to six local mobile food distributions with a box truck every month.
Marion Oaks Assembly of God and St. Jude Catholic Church hosted a joint mobile distribution in southwest Ocala, made possible by availability of fresh food delivered by the Marion County branch.
“They’re able to supply it at the local part of Second Harvest now, and that helps quite a bit,” said Anabel Cardinez, who runs the pantry at the Assembly of God. “It helps because before Second Harvest, we’d have to go shopping out at stores for the fresh items.”
At the mobile distribution, volunteers from both churches loaded boxes of food, including meat, bakery items and fresh produce like carrots, melons, potatoes, lettuce and sweet potatoes into neighbors’ vehicles. In a few short hours, 180 families received a variety of fresh and nonperishable food.
“There’s a lot of need in Marion Oaks,” Anabel said. “There are a lot of children and families. More than half of who we serve are children.”
The two churches, each with their own traditional food pantries, started collaborating this spring to co-host drive-through-style food distributions to meet the growing need for food assistance in the community. Joining forces for the mobile food distributions allows volunteers from both groups to work together.
As Anabel Cardinez puts it, the joint effort is not just about meeting the community’s immediate needs. It’s about a long-term commitment to fighting food insecurity and bringing more food resources to their neighbors.
“We plan to keep going, doing it more often to reach more people,” Anabel said.
