Joseph found himself in a line at a local church food pantry. His health issues had forced him to allocate a significant portion of his monthly expenses to treatment, just to stay employed and maintain health insurance. He turned to a local Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida feeding partner for help with food assistance.
“It’s just a vicious cycle,” he said. “I can’t afford anything extra, so this means so much.”
For 1 in 8 Central Floridians like Joseph, hunger is a daily disaster often brought on by expensive medications and high costs of living.
“The economy has really affected people,” said John, who runs the Community United Methodist Church Food Pantry in Fruitland Park along with wife Barbara. “They can’t make it to the end of the month without help with food.”
Barbara added that she sees a lot of single-income households, whether they are senior citizens or single parents. The pantry typically serves about 100 families a month through its twice-weekly food distributions. Neighbors like Joseph drive through the parking lot and receive meat, produce, non-perishable items and other staples.
This kind of support is made possible by the support of a caring community, and funding partners like Chick-fil-A, which granted funds to feed families at 25 feeding partners in Lake County when a new restaurant opened in Leesburg last year. This funding for the Community United Methodist pantry provided enough food for more than 740 meals over the course of a month for families in Fruitland Park.
“It definitely means a lot,” said Barbara. “It enables us to buy more groceries for our Fruitland Park neighbors.”
Through acts of kindness and generosity, neighbors across Central Florida can access the food resources they need to thrive.
