Staff Reports
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is expanding its School Partnership Program providing food items to markets and pantries through a $115,150 grant from Aetna, a CVS Health company.
The funding will help stock markets and emergency pantries at elementary, middle, high school and post-secondary institutions with nonperishable food for the 2023-24 academic school year.
There are currently 65 schools in Brevard, Osceola, Orange, Lake and Seminole counties that participate in the Second Harvest program, which allows students and families to access nutritious foods after school and on weekends when students are receiving school meals.
“We continue to see more and more families — many for the first time — having to make difficult household budget decisions due to higher costs of necessities,” Second Harvest Food Bank President and CEO Derrick Chubbs said. “This latest grant from Aetna will help us continue to support student-centered and stigma-reducing access to nutritious food for students and their families.”
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida distributes enough food for 300,000 meals a day, but even with that volume, 1 in 5 local children are still food insecure and at risk of going to bed hungry.
“We’re committed to helping people in under-resourced communities achieve their best health and know that improving health starts with good nutrition,” said Aetna Better Health Florida CEO Jennifer Sweet. “Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is doing great work providing healthy and safe food to students and, through this collaboration, we’re working together to support the health of our communities.”
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is a member of Feeding America, the largest charitable domestic hunger relief organization in the nation. The group secures and distributes food and grocery products to more than 625 local nonprofit feeding partners in Central Florida. The group also works to address the sources for hunger, including through investments into job training programs.
