Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida are asking Florida lawmakers to their Food Cost Mitigation Program.
Stephanie Palacios, Advocacy and Government Relations for the non-profit, addressed lawmakers Wednesday at the Orange County Legislative Delegation public meeting.
“Now, we’re fortunate about 74% of the food we distribute is donated food, but last year, Second Harvest had to purchase over $10 million worth of food to try to meet the need here in Central Florida,” Palacios said to lawmakers. “This is not sustainable for us.”
Palacios said the rising cost of food, the high cost of transporting that food, intermittent supply chain issues and a dramatic decline in government investment have impacted the food bank.
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She said if legislators support the program, it will offset the impacts working families and the food bank are feeling.
“These funds will allow Second Harvest to continue our robust relationship with the Florida agriculture community and purchase more healthy fruits and vegetables grown by Florida growers to distribute to our community,” Palacios said.
Florida House Representative Susan Plasencia is sponsoring the appropriations project.
Second Harvest is requesting $2,247,104.
Greg Higgerson, the organization’s chief development officer, said the demand for food isn’t on the decline.
“The demand for food this year has remained very, very high, kind of consistently throughout the year, we’ve been distributing at a rate of about 300,000 meals per day out to the 625 partner agencies that put this food out to people,” Higgerson said. “We’re doing as much as we can to close that gap, but it’s a tough year.”
He’s hoping this project moves forward in January.
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