Every kid needs three meals a day to grow up healthy, happy, and strong but too many children are missing those meals – 1 in 7 children face hunger in Florida. Fortunately, this is a problem No Kid Hungry knows how to solve.
A big part of what we do at No Kid Hungry Florida is providing grants to schools and community organizations across our state so they can afford what they need to feed kids. Since 2020, No Kid Hungry Florida has distributed 10.6 million dollars in grant funding to nonprofit organizations and school districts across the state to combat child hunger.
Check out our grant map to see the impact we’ve had in our Floridian communities!
Here are some of the amazing community organizations and school districts we have supported with our grants recently!
Feed the Need of Putnam County
When the last bell rings on Friday and the weekend starts, school is out for 2 days, and so are school meals. Many kids rely on school meals so Feed the Need of Putnam County makes sure our kiddos are fed even during weekends. They’ve put together school food pantries where students can choose whichever items they need or their family needs similarly to a grocery shopping experience. They also distribute backpacks with weekend meals to students when they leave school on Friday. Feed the Need of Putnam County provides more than 800 meals to children during weekends.
Feed the Need of Putnam County shared with us:
“There are students that do not eat if they’re not at school so they look for our food bags when they leave school on Fridays. Teachers come up every week and tell me about the faces that look forward to picking up the bags. The impact is great!”
Florida Department of Health in Hendry County
The Florida Department of Health in Hendry County works tirelessly to protect and improve children’s and Floridian families’ health. They are always looking for ways to successfully serve the residents of Hendry County. Due to funding challenges and COVID-19, like many other agencies, they were no longer able to provide food resource applications in person. With the support from our grant, they were able to provide food resource application assistance in person. They’ve received plenty of positive feedback from the community and have been able to make a significant difference in assisting many more families with food resources.
Florida Department of Health in Hendry County shared with us:
“We have made a significant difference in assisting families access food resources, and it has proven to be extremely rewarding and valued locally.”
The Mobile School Pantry, Inc South Florida
The Mobile School Pantry provides nutritious, healthy grocery items to students and families at low-income schools throughout South Florida while fighting against food waste at the same time. 1 in 7 kids face hunger in Florida, meanwhile everyday food goes to waste. Mobile School Pantry understands the importance of capturing excess food and providing it to people who face food insecurity. Last year, they diverted over 364,500 pounds of safe, edible food to South Floridians facing hunger with their pop-up client choice pantry. Their goal is not only to provide food but connections to additional services to achieve long-term solutions to end hunger.
With the support from No Kid Hungry Florida’s grant, the Mobile School Pantry expanded their team, opened two new school pantries, and provided assistance to more children and families that experience food insecurity in Broward County, Florida.
Mobile School Pantry shared with us:
“The expansion of our team means families in the community feel heard and are able to receive more personalized attention and support, which helped them navigate the challenges of food insecurity and access other resources to improve their overall well-being. The school pantry team’s expanded services have a profound impact on the number of families served, who were able to access nutritious foods and resources through our program.”
No Kid Hungry Florida is grateful to support such amazing organizations. With your help, we can keep fighting to make No Kid Hungry a reality! We all have different strengths to share in the fight to end childhood hunger in Florida. Whatever your strength, there’s a way you can help ensure kids get the nutritious food they need every day. Join us!