Preparing for the Coronavirus

Coronavirus Update: September 21, 2020

As the local economy reopens, Central Florida workers are facing a second crisis, one where 500 people a day are searching for food assistance on our website.

Many of our neighbors who lost their jobs at the onset of COVID-19 are still out of work. Families who hadn’t known hunger before the pandemic can no longer afford groceries. Searches for food assistance on our website have soared from an average of 35 to 500 a day.

At Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, we remain committed to helping make sure that as much food as possible can reach those experiencing hunger.

More than 300,000 meals are being provided every day to our six-county service area; roughly double our daily distribution before the crisis hit. 38 million meals have been provided to our Central Florida community since March 23.

Here's what you are making possible:

• 310 mobile drops in our six-county area have provided 6,335,215 meals to families.
• Second Harvest’s direct meal delivery program, Bring Hope Home, has provided 262,000 nutritious meals to over 16,000 individuals unable to travel. 15,698 deliveries have been made since the program launched.
• The Summer Food Service Program, which provides meals to kids when school is out for the summer, launched early on March 23. Over 770,000 meals were provided to kids this summer. 
• Second Harvest’s Catering for Good team shifted its focus to help the production kitchen prepare, pack and distribute meals daily to food deserts. Over 1.5 million meals have been provided to families and seniors. 
• The Culinary Training Program is training students virtually. 43 students are learning life skills and cooking skills through online classes.
• Benefits Connection team completed 867 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applications for families and seniors.
  
  

Learn more: Stewardship of resources in the times of COVID-19/Economic Recession.


Thank you for providing hope during this uncertain time. Your support makes an incredible difference to thousands of families, kids and seniors in Central Florida. Thank you!

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida continues to monitor developments regarding the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in our community. We're communicating daily with local emergency management services and Feeding America.

The safety of our staff, volunteers and feeding partners is very important. Additional steps for extra sanitation to keep our facility, food and people as safe as possible during this potential threat are being taken.

If you plan on volunteering and are experiencing any symptoms of illness, we ask that you do not volunteer at this time.  Please join us as a volunteer when you are symptom-free for 14 days. Click here to learn more about volunteering.

Need Help

If you are in need of food assistance, please visit our online food locator to find a list of feeding partners near your residency. Click here to read frequently asked food assistance questions. Please make sure to call before heading there, to make sure that their hours or location has not changed. If you need assistance during the weekend, please call United Way's 2-1-1.

How To Help

The loss of economic activity has already started impacting thousands of hourly workers and their families. More will be impacted in the weeks ahead. Can you help to make sure that we are able to meet the growing demand of food assistance? 

  

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