By: Dani Gallingane
For families facing food insecurity, having access to nutritious food can make a huge difference in everyday life. Feeding Northeast Florida is working to address those needs through specialized programs that support children, families, and other community members throughout the region.
Serving 12 counties across Northeast and North Central Florida, the organization rescues and distributes food through a network of its community partners. Beyond their everyday food distribution efforts, Feeding Northeast Florida offers programs designed to help people face food insecurity during particularly challenging times of the year, like the holidays.
One of its key initiatives is the SnackPack program, which helps children access food outside regular school hours. The packs contain convenient, nutritious options for children who may not have reliable access to food after school, on weekends, or during school breaks. According to Feeding America, 1 in 5 children in Florida experience food insecurity at some point. This program helps increase children’s access to food over these times away from school. The organization also provides SnackStations at participating schools, giving students access to individual snacks when they need them.
By working with schools, teachers, and community organizations, Feeding Northeast Florida helps address childhood hunger while supporting students’ ability to focus and learn.
The organization also increases its efforts during the holiday season, when families may face additional financial pressure to provide special meals and holiday gifts while managing everyday expenses. Through holiday food initiatives, Feeding Northeast Florida brings community members together to help make seasonal celebrations possible for families experiencing food insecurity.
Its Harvest Helpings initiative brings volunteers together to pack holiday meal boxes full of holiday dinner essentials for distribution throughout the region. These efforts help families put food on the table during Thanksgiving and give community members a hands-on way to support their neighbors.
Holiday food drives and packing events also show how individuals, businesses, and community groups can work together to address hunger. Even if they cannot donate financially, donations of volunteer hours help ensure food reaches households that need additional assistance.
FNFL’s community engagement manager Hayden Prince says this program is one of her favorites. She says, “We’re packing up all of the dry ingredients, that’s going to be things like your cornbread, your green bean cans, and we’re planning to make 6,000 of them this year, and they get distributed out right before Thanksgiving, including a big frozen turkey.”
Volunteers play an important role in making these programs possible. From sorting donated food and packing SnackPacks to assembling holiday meal boxes, volunteers help Feeding Northeast Florida reach more people throughout its 12-county service area.
Prince says,
“We have quite the volunteer force. We had about 14,000 volunteers last year and that number keeps increasing each year. At the warehouse, we need volunteers Tuesday to Saturday, both morning and afternoon shifts. They are the ones helping us either pack those meal kits or sort through donated or reclaimed items.”
From providing children with snacks between school meals to helping families celebrate the holidays, Feeding Northeast Florida’s programs help to address food insecurity throughout the year. With the support of staff, volunteers, and donors, the organization continues working toward a community where everyone has access to nutritious food.