Serving Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties
COMING UP! Rev up Your Team For WINK News Hunger Walk! Now’s the time to pull together your team for the WINK News Feeds Families Hunger Walk on Saturday, January 16! We’re aiming to surpass the more than 1,000 participants in last year’s event and a goal of $330,000 — which provides $1.98 million in food. Register now online at harrychapinfoodbank.org, and bring your family, your friends and even your pets to “Fight Hunger and Feed Hope.”
An array of bowls from last year’s event
Become a ‘Friend Of Empty Bowls’ For just a $50 donation, you can become a Friend of Empty Bowls! You’ll get admission to the Naples event on Saturday, January 23, your choice of a handcrafted ceramic bowl from the exclusive “Friends” table, a commemorative miniature bowl, name recognition at the event, and invitations to all Empty Bowls workshops. Sign on at www.emptybowlsnaples.org!
See page 5 for photos!
Fall 2015 / Vol. XV, No. 4
Multi-service Mobile Pantries Assist With Food...and Health The Harry Chapin Food Bank mobile pantry distributions are lifelines for children, parents and seniors — especially in summer, when so many children miss their school breakfasts and lunches. Between June and September, these mobile pantries distributed 300,000 pounds of food, much of it fresh produce, to those in need. But food is only one important component of an increasingly “holistic” approach. At least one mobile pantry each month also delivers multiple services right into the neighborood, reaching 200 to 300 households at one time. Set up alongside the food tables are diabetic screening, blood pressure testing, Goodwill Job-Link, outreach for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), AIDS screening, and even ways to sign up for classes in English as a second language and financial literacy. At one mobile pantry, almost 25 percent of those tested had abnormal levels of sugar and blood pressure. Sponsors of summer pantries included the United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties; Naples Children & Education Foundation; The Mosaic Company; Wawa; Wells Fargo Bank; Walmart; and CarMax. Mobile pantries are efficient. Food Bank drivers can even set up and drop off 10,000 pounds of food in fewer than 30 minutes,
Smiles on these girls’ faces show the value of fresh produce at a mobile pantry distribution.
letting partner agencies handle the on-site distribution, and quickly move on. Depending on what’s in season, clients can take home four to six bags of fresh produce — from watermelon to cucumbers, apples to cabbages. “Agriculture in Florida provides our state great abundance, and mobile pantries offer another avenue for food banks to distribute fresh, locally grown products to families in need, allowing greater access to nutritious food,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam. Jose Soto-Cruz, the Food Bank’s mobile pantry coordinator, was especially “touched” by a woman who worked at a school that was a mobile pantry site. “She said, ‘I paid all my bills this weekend, but I don’t know how I’m going to buy food. The bread and meat and potatoes for my kids are a blessing to receive.’”
A Place to Go When She’s Struggling Sheyla, a client and volunteer at Daniels Road Baptist Church pantry:
“My 20-year-old daughter is autistic. When my father was dying of cancer, it was hard struggling to take care of her and him, too, and that’s when I needed help. I’ve received much more than
food over the years — friendship and hope. And the need is greater now. If we didn’t have the Harry Chapin Food Bank, we couldn’t feed children home from school this summer. Sometimes, they don’t have breakfast and lunch. At least they can have dinner at home.”