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All Faiths Food Bank
Fighting Hunger In Our Community
By Tracy Eisnaugle
Photography by Chad Spencer
As we enjoy living in the Suncoast surrounded by pristine beaches, clean roadways and manicured neighborhoods we might not realize that there is a plague of hunger hidden amongst our population, whether it is a family going through difficult times, seniors struggling to live on a fixed income, or our ever increasing homeless population, we rarely take a moment to consider how they will acquire their next meal. Hunger is a silent issue and our community is blessed to have an outspoken resource, The All Faiths Food Bank. One of only two hundred and eleven food banks in the nation and a member of Feeding America, All Faiths Food Bank is a not-for-profit organization that accumulates donated food, supplies, and monetary support; they distribute their gatherings to over one hundred and sixty partner agencies throughout the area. All Faiths Food Bank distributes enough food through their partnering agencies to provide 8,100 meals daily in Sarasota and Desoto Counties totaling an astonishing 4.2 million pounds of food a year.
All Faiths Food Bank’s Mission is to feed those in need, reduce food waste, and educate the community about the issues of hunger and nutrition. To fulfill their heroic mission they actively solicit, warehouse, process, sort, and distribute food to the areas not-for-profit partners who provide hunger relief. Executive Director, Dan Dunn oversees a highly dedicated staff including Jill Collins a Registered Dietitian, to develop and execute programs that will educate the community on issues related to hunger, food, and nutrition. Working together the All Faiths Food Bank team has instituted successful programs including; Hunger 101, Growing Healthy Kids, Children’s Food Assistance Program, Kid’s Café, Saturday Pantries, Community Harvest, New Beginnings Boxes, Seniors Brown Bag Program, Seniors Food Assistance Program, USDA Commodity Distribution, turkey Distribution, Dinner A’Fare, Fresh Recovery, Staples Box Program, and BackPack Kids Program. Understanding the changing concerns within our community and responding to those concerns by establishing and activating programs that work best to solve the problems and give support to those in need.
Much of the success of All Faiths Food Bank is due to the support of a devoted crew of over four hundred volunteers. Volunteers carefully process, sort, and store all the food within the 20,000 square foot facility. Orders from not-for-profit partners are received, packed, and verified to the finest detail and then distributed throughout the community. The food bank has six trucks on the road daily delivering precious cargo and returning with valuable donations to begin the process all over again.
Graciously serving our community with modesty and dignity, All Faiths Food Bank is providing people with hope and the promise of never suffering from the affliction of hunger. For more information about All Faiths Food Bank, their remarkable programs or to make a generous donation visit their website or local facility at:
All Faiths Food Bank
8187 Blaikie Court
Sarasota, Fl. 34240
941.379.6333
www.allfaithsfoodbank.org [2]
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