ORLANDO, Fla. – After the COVID-19 pandemic, Central Florida organizations said people are still having a hard time getting back on their feet for a number of reasons.
Prior to the pandemic, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida said it was distributing 150,000 meals a day.
That number doubled during the pandemic. Corporate Partnerships Manager Maureen Mikel said the needle hasn’t moved much since then.
“Unfortunately, that need has just consistently stayed about the same since the pandemic at about 300,000 meals every single day that we’re distributing,” Mikel said.
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Mikel said they hoped that number would drop — but searches on the organization’s online food finder tool have increased over the last year. In June 2022, there were 7,100 searches using the food finder tool. In June 2023, that number jumped 36% to 9,721.
“n that due to rising costs of virtually everything — inflation, lack of affordable housing mixed with this heat right now, you know, utility bills are out of control,” Mikel said.
However, Second Harvest isn’t alone in this fight. Light Orlando is also helping feed families by partnering with U.S. Hunger to pack 500,000 meals that will be distributed to charities feeding families across Central Florida.
“We’re seeing a lot more individuals that you wouldn’t have thought would be struggling with different kinds of food insecurity because of the housing market, interest inflation and stuff has gone up,” said Light Orlando Program Officer Troy Wright.
Wright said with the help of 1,400 volunteers, packing 500,000 meals will be one of their largest endeavors yet. They’ll pack those meals at the Central Florida Fairgrounds on Aug. 12.
“Those things that that we typically would argue about are those things that maybe would make us not be friends or not hanging out on a Friday night, they’re suddenly gone and we’re all there for one purpose,” Wright said. “And that purpose is to serve the community and to give back. So it’s really just a linking of arms and joining forces for the common good.”
If you are in need of food assistance, click here. If you would like to sign up to volunteer for Light Orlando’s food packing event, click here.
Check out the Florida Foodie podcast. You can find every episode in the media player below: