Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida collects, stores and distributes donated food through a powerful hunger relief network spanning 6 counties: Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia. Their programs are fighting hunger and feeding hope.
When they opened the on the south end of Mercy Drive, I did several sketches of the opening of the building and of volunteers at work sorting food. At that facility there is the Darden Foundation Community Kitchen, a 2,000-square-foot, commercial kitchen space. Food could be prepared there and distributed to the community.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the community needs more than doubled. The kitchen was no longer large enough to meet the demand.
As a result of CARES Act funding through Orange County and financial support from the community, the food bank expanded into the new 20,000-square-foot facility, two miles from its main warehouse. Mercy Kitchen includes an expanded production kitchen, a cooler and freezer area, dry storage, and six receiving and distribution bay doors to support Second Harvest’s operations.
Volunteers and staff at this location support hunger relief efforts by packing meals for kids, seniors and veterans. Programs supported at Mercy Kitchen include:
- 7-Day Breakfast and Lunch Boxes
- Kids Café after school program
- Summer Food Service Program
As I was sketching volunteers were busy preparing packaged school lunches. The assembly line work was fast an furious and the volunteers seemed to have a blast. They wanted to get a group photo together outside the building after their shift. 23,000 meals are prepared at the kitchen each day. Weekly 5,500 seven-day boxes (77,000 meals) and 450 family meal boxes (9,900 meals) are distributed to people in need.
Bring Hope Home is Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida’s newest innovation in response to the high demand for home-delivered food due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program utilizes external delivery partners as well as volunteer drivers to safely transport perishable and nonperishable food items directly to those in need in a contact-free manner. Besides this program they also partner with 550 feeding partners in Central Florida. They include emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, senior centers, day cares and more.
Our network of partners help us distribute food to six counties in Central Florida, including: Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia county.
I was glad to see that masks are required at Second Harvest. Now that the hospitalizations are slowly dropping due to COVID-19 there has been just a minor decline in the demand for food. The pandemic is far from over. It will likely take many years before Mercy kitchen will see pre-pandemic levels of demand.