By Jaye Clements
All Faiths Food Bank partners with the Sarasota County Library Systems to feed children.
Summer presents many challenges for struggling families in Sarasota County. Food and nutrition are vital to our area children…
All Faiths Food Bank announced their new summer partnership with Sarasota County libraries. The Food Bank’s summer BackPack program provides children 18 & younger with kid-friendly food. Children can visit their local library and take home a bag of food. Participating libraries include: Fruitville, Gulf Gate, North Sarasota and Selby in Sarasota, Elsie Quirk in Englewood; North Port Public Library in North Port; and Jacaranda and Venice Public Library in Venice. Schedules and maps for all summer food assistance programs can be found at: www.allfaithsfoodbank.org.
“Children who are hungry over the summer have greater learning losses than those who are well nourished. Summer learning loss contributes to the achievement gap in reading performance.” Said, Sandra Frank, All Faiths CEO. “This partnership is the intersection between hunger and literacy. Together we will address the summer slide in learning and nutrition experienced by so many children in our community.”
The Sarasota County School District will provide free summer breakfast and lunch programs at more than 40 locations. The summer expansion of All Faiths’ Mobile and School Pantries programs provide access to food for more than 21,000 local children, all summer long.
The Campaign Against Summer Hunger, raised the food and funds to implement the programs and help feed Sarasota County students, who face hunger during summer, with $1.2 million, and more than 935,000 pounds of food. The program allows access to food for children in neighborhoods with the highest need.
Last year, All Faiths Food Bank distributed 7 million pounds of food, giving about 5.8 million meals, through 195 pantries, soup kitchens, churches, community centers, schools, and programs. Its mission is to feed those in need and educate the community about hunger and nutrition. For more information or to support the Food Bank’s efforts call 941-379-6333 or visit www.allfaithsfoodbank.org.
Let’s make Sarasota a place where no child will go to bed hungry… together we can do this! Want one simple way to help? Every time your local grocery store offers a BOGO (buy one get one free) put the extra can aside and watch your box fill up! It will make an awesome family mission this summer, while providing meals to others! Just think what we could accomplish as a community… You can drop off your food donations to any of the local Sarasota County Goodwill locations.
Author: Siesta Sand