ORLANDO – Since the pandemic and with the rise in inflation, one of the biggest issues people continue to face is food insecurity. They are struggling to put food on the table.
To help solve the problem, they say it takes a village, and nothing says a city of heroes like all the workers and volunteers at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
Each year, roughly about 30,000 volunteers walk through the doors to donate their time to help feed their neighbors.
One of them is Dona Powell.
“Three plus years. I started when the pandemic hit, and we went into lockdown. I was hearing on the local news as well as the world news about food insecurity,” said Powell. “So I’ve been volunteering and I’ve never looked back. It’s a very rewarding, rewarding experience.”
Serving her community comes naturally to Powell. She spent 17 years as an Osceola County school teacher, where she saw food insecurity firsthand.
‘You would see some students that wouldn’t have food, the lunch that that they needed to sustain themselves through the day. And you would see other students giving them other food or giving them from their food from their lunch. So it was very obvious that we’ve had food issue and food concern in our community,” said Powell.
The most recent numbers show as many as 500,000 people in the seven counties Second Harvest serves are hungry. That’s one in eight adults, or one in five children.
That’s where Second Harvest comes in.
“They distribute roughly 350,000 meals a day. That’s a single day,” said Powell. “We get everything from vegetables and fruits and potatoes, and they’re getting nutritious meals. They’re not just getting junk food.”
These days, one of the biggest problems when it comes to food insecurity is at least a third of people dealing with food insecurity may make too much to qualify for SNAP benefits. Job numbers paint a positive picture, but the reality is, many are still under-employed and having a tough time making ends meet, so they’re going without. Sometimes people don’t know where to turn for help, and even if they do, they may not want to ask for it.
“I think people just internally have so much pride in themselves, and they just don’t want to admit and own up to the fact that, ‘Yes, I need some help’. There is no shame, there is absolutely no shame in needing help,” said Powell. “Because if you don’t speak up, then how can anyone know to help you?”
To get them that help, Powell spends three shifts a week sorting food and packing meal boxes and said it’s a great time with great people to truly get results.
“When the volunteers come in, and they’re working a three-hour shift, at the end of the shift, we let them know how many pounds or what they average during that shift. And then they can take that number and divide it by 1.2. And that tells them how many people that they fed during that shift, and the looks on their faces, that, ‘I did that in a three-hour shift,’” said Powell. “It just puts a smile on your face. It does your heart good. And it gives you the desire to continue coming back. Because if you can do that, contribute to 350,000 meals distributed every day, why not add more to that? It’s just, it’s a blessing to be able to do this.”
Second Harvest actually works with more than 600 feeding partners in the Central Florida area. Those feeding partners actually distribute the food and boxes made at the warehouse directly to the people needing them.
They also have a meal delivery programs for those that can’t get out and about, and even one that’s called their medically-tailored meal program. Patients with chronic kidney disease can be referred to that program by their doctors to get meals specially designed and delivered for that illness.
