- 200 Volunteers participated in this year's Second Harvest packing blitz.
- The goal for Second Harvest: pack 1,600 Senior Nutrition boxes, 5,000 mobile pantry bags, and 12,500 boxes for the Snack Pack Kids Café after school program.
- Second Harvest says 5 of the top 10 counties in Florida with the highest rates of food insecurity are right here in the Big Bend.
- Watch the video above to hear from volunteers and others about the need for food for families.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
Meeting a need for neighbors who need help the most.
I'm Terry Gilliam your Southwest Tallahassee neighborhood reporter, with a look at how hundreds of people showed up here today - to help make sure families in the big bend do not go without a meal.
"We have a food insecurity need throughout Leon County and around the big bend area!"
Inside this building… was a lot of team building ...
To help families through the second harvest of the big bend's packing blitz.
200 volunteers showed up at Million Air to pack thousands of boxes of non-perishable food items.
That food will be distributed through Senior Nutrition boxes, meal pantry bags, and the Snack Pack Kids Café After School program.
Danielle Andrews helped.
"It's all about community. If we each lend a helping hand, we can go so much further as a community.
"There's a regular need on a day-to-day basis, so no one should go hungry."
The goal for Second Harvest: pack 1,600 Senior Nutrition boxes, 5,000 mobile pantry bags, and 12,500 boxes for the Snack Pack Kids Café after school program.
Tallahassee International Airport and Million Air teamed with Second Harvest to make meeting that goal possible.
I spoke with Stephanie Allison and Ashton Read with Million Air about why this meal packing blitz was needed.
"Anything is absolutely needed right now in this economy to help boost morale and feed families."
Allison says she's seen the need first-hand.
"Inflation is huge, I have two kids and I'm a single mom; I lived out in Monticello which is already a degreased area. Second harvest comes out there and they do meal drops and it helps a lot of families."
Looking at the numbers. As of June 2024, inflation has cooled. According to the White House, 27% of the grocery basket saw price declined over the past year.
Though, numbers are trending down, neighbors like Andrews say there's still work to be done."
"We never know when there can be a need so always appreciate Second Harvest for being boots on the ground and ready."
Second Harvest says 5 of the top 10 counties in Florida with the highest rates of food insecurity are right here in the big bend.
In Southwest Tallahassee, I'm Terry Gilliam for ABC 27.
