Families in Orange County will be able to receive more aid from two Central Florida nonprofits starting this month.
That’s because Orange County Commissioners voted on Tuesday, July 9, to approve an additional $255,637 for the Central Florida Diaper Bank and an extra $2 million for Second Harvest Food Bank.
The money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The federal act went into effect in 2021, at the height of COVID, providing trillions of dollars in relief for communities throughout the United States.
Mayor Jerry Demings said the diaper bank will use the money to provide low-income families increased access to diapers and food for infants and toddlers, along with other community resources.
And at Second Harvest, the funds will be used to expand food distribution events, mobile food drops and support capacity building enhancements for local food pantries.
In 2022, the diaper bank distributed more than 1.5 million diapers and more than 1.4 million wipes in the Central Florida area.
Second Harvest announced earlier this month that searches on its food locator tool were up by 43% this June compared with last.
Searches in May jumped by over 100%. Many factors including continued pandemic-related hardship and rising inflation are to blame for an increased need for food.
Second Harvest estimates it has distributed over 300,000 meals a day this summer alone.
Read the full agenda from the Orange County meeting here:
