TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — 49% of all people living in Leon County are living paycheck to paycheck, which forces families to limit how much money they're spending on food. That can lead to skipped meals, eating less, and purchasing cheaper, less nutritious food.
To meet the growing need, Second Harvest of the Big Bend is launching a new initiative to try and do more food distributions in the new year.
"When I buy groceries it's like $150 every two weeks so this will help me a lot," said Danesha Stanley, a Florida A&M student living in Tallahassee. Stanley said being able to get access to free, healthy food makes a huge impact on her life.
"I really appreciate everything everybody's doing for the community it's very, very helpful," Stanley added.
150 families lined up at the Lincoln Center on Tuesday to get bread, protein, fresh produce, and holiday baked goods just in time for Christmas.
"This is really kicking off a new initiative for Second Harvest where we're inviting the businesses and their staff to come out onsite for distributions and participate in the work that we do," said Monique Ellsworth, CEO of Second Harvest of the Big Bend.
Ellsworth added Tuesday's food distribution is the first one in Leon County sponsored by a local business. This joint-effort can increase the number of families they serve in the future.
How it works is a local business will pay for as much food as they want to distribute, plus bring their own volunteers to help dish it out. Second Harvest does their part by supplying the food, already paid for by the business, and showing the volunteers how to give it out.
"This is probably going to be food that's put on plates today making it easier to maneuver the holiday season not having to worry about food they're going to feed their children," said Ellsworth.
According to Feeding America, food insecurity will continue to rise in the Big Bend in 2023 due to soaring costs to purchase and transport food, supply chain issues, and inflation taking a toll on families, increasing the amount of people relying on food banks and distributions.
That's why Ellsworth added they need more local businesses to sponsor food distributions in the future so they can make a bigger difference in the new year.
"If businesses are interested if they like what they're seeing today there's ways to get involved with us on a deeper level going forward," said Ellsworth.
If you're a local business interested in sponsoring a community food distribution, click here.
