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Stories of Hope and Courage
1 in 7 Central Floridians are struggling with the reality of hunger and food insecurity.Here are some of their stories.
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Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is a member of Feeding America – the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. Second Harvest secures and distributes food and grocery products to more than 500 local nonprofit feeding programs throughout Central Florida.
With the help of food and financial donors, volunteers and a caring, committed community, the food bank distributes a quarter of a million meals every day to partner programs such as food pantries, soup kitchens, women's shelters, senior centers, day care centers and Kids Cafes. In addition, Second Harvest's 16-week culinary program teaches foodservice-based technical, life and employability skills to economically hard-pressed adults.
On March 31, 2021, Feeding America released local-level food insecurity projections for 2021 which show that food insecurity has remained elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels for 96% of counties. In Central Florida, Feeding America projects that 13.8%, one in seven people and 20.1%, one in five children, live in households that may be food insecure in 2021.
The study, The Impact of the Coronavirus on Local Food Insecurity in 2020 and 2021, provides a snapshot of food insecurity at the state, congressional district and county level prior to the pandemic and presents the likely impact the ensuing economic crisis has had on food insecurity levels in the U.S. In addition, for the first time, Feeding America has produced local-level projections of very low food security, a more severe range of food insecurity that involves reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns.
Food insecurity refers to USDA's measure of lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods. Food-insecure households are not necessarily food insecure all the time. Food insecurity may reflect a household's need to make trade-offs between important basic needs, such as housing or medical bills, and purchasing nutritionally adequate foods.
View Central Florida findings.
