This year, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida was able to attend the 2021 Anti-Hunger Policy Conference – virtually! We had over 40 attendees from the food bank — pantries, board members and staff! The two day conference ended with a full virtual day on the hill for board members and pantries.
Second Harvest is thankful to have met with Congressman Darren Soto, staff from Congresswoman Val Demings’ office, staff from Congressman Michael Waltz, staff from Congressman Scott Franklin’s office, staff from Senator Marco Rubio’s office, and staff from Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy’s office.
Our meetings kicked off with a conversation around the food bank’s response to the pandemic, and stories from our frontline workers – pantries. Many pantries shared impactful and meaningful stories about members in their community. Kenneth Bennett from Church in the Son, shared a story about “Mr. O”, who visits the pantry once a week for himself and to cook a hot meal for the homeless veteran camp that lives across the street from him. We also heard countless stories from pantries serving what they can, as fast as they can to those who need their help.
We ended each meeting by asking staff or the member of Congress to commit to fighting hunger in Central Florida with the help of federal nutrition funding. Thank you to our board members for joining us — Jeff Lutes, Board Chair; Peg Cornwell, Incoming Board Chair; Michele Byington, Immediate Past Chair; Ricky Ly, and Amy Tidd.
Leave a Reply