June 16, 2023
On June 16th, we volunteered at Feeding South Florida to collect and sort items for those suffering with food insecurity. The USDA defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life. Food insecurity also occurs when people don’t know where their next meal is going to come from. According to Feeding South Florida, “Feeding South Florida’s mission is to end hunger in South Florida by providing immediate access to nutritious food, leading hunger and poverty advocacy efforts and transforming lives through innovative programming and education.” This is a significant undertaking, but with the help of others, Feeding South Florida is able to make greater progress towards reaching their goal. Feeding South Florida currently serves children, older adults, working poor, single parents, veterans, and shelters in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties. These four counties alone have over 700,000 people experiencing food insecurity. That is an immense number of people, especially considering there are a total of sixty-seven counties in the state of Florida. Imagine the amount of people suffering throughout the United States and globally. According to Feeding America, every county in the United States is facing food insecurity. In addition, Feeding America also states that food insecurity has a variety of effects, including being an underlying cause of serious health issues. With a lack of access to proper nutrition, people may have to decide between food and medicine if they are unable to afford both. World hunger has been affecting millions for a long time and it needs to end. Despite being a challenging task to accomplish, with the help of volunteers and donations, we can lower the numbers of those struggling and come closer to ending world hunger.
I had a great experience volunteering with Feeding South Florida. We collected about 14,000 pounds of food and spent additional time sorting all of the items. The food will be distributed across South Florida to those in need. It was a great feeling knowing that the time we spent volunteering would help contribute towards reducing the food insecurity issues in South Florida.
To learn more about food insecurity, please visit the following link: What is Food Insecurity? | Feeding America and to learn more about volunteer opportunities at Feeding South Florida, please use the following link: Feeding South Florida - Feeding South Florida®
~ Sam
On June 16, 2023, we volunteered at Feeding South Florida. There, we experienced the process of items being inspected, sorted, and boxed. Knowing that the smallest help can improve someone’s day made me realize that anyone can positively impact their community, no matter who you are. The work environment was great, and I would definitely do it again. The goal of Feeding South Florida is to eliminate hunger in South Florida by giving residents instant access to nutritious meals, organizing campaigns to raise awareness of the issue, and transforming lives through creative programming and outreach. They envision, “A hunger-free South Florida in which families have transitioned from dependency to self sufficiency,” as do many of us. If you would like to learn about upcoming volunteer opportunities, please use the following link to view their event calendar: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e48a9a82da2f9c61-july#/
~Evan
