A special program that stretches access to fresh fruits and vegetables in Central Florida schools, at no cost, is expanding.
The program called Fly Beyond provided fresh fruits and vegetables in a farmers-market type setup to more than 50,000 kids and families last school year.
Now, with an additional $475,000 dollar grant from Wawa, the program will expand into five more schools, for a total of 40 in the region.
The Wawa Foundation’s President Elizabeth Simeone said the program is so crucial, as it supports the work that schools already do around fighting hunger.
“Schools do such a phenomenal job. But really engaging volunteers, school partnership programs, it helps remove the stigma as well, which is why the Fly Beyond was really put in place. It's to provide additional access to more children for nutritious foods,” said Simeone.
According to Second Harvest, about one in six local children are at risk of going hungry in Central Florida.
Second Harvest’s Briana Rebello, who runs the program, said Fly Beyond expands the food bank's reach.
“Each school has the potential to reach, you know, 500 to 1,000 to 2,000 students. We do make the fresh markets available to the entire student population,” Rebello said.
The Fly Beyond pilot program was started by a $1 million dollar grant from Wawa in 2023.
Second Harvest has sounded the alarm, about surging summer hunger for families.
The nonprofit says that a number of different factors, including continued COVID hardship and rising inflation means more families than ever are food-insecure.
