Disclosure: AdventHealth and Second Harvest are financial sponsors of Central Florida Public Media but have no say in its coverage.
The “Holiday Bus” is coming to town.
AdventHealth is working with other organizations to send out their new “Drive Out the Hunger” Holiday Bus this month to help ensure children don’t go without food during the holidays.
On Monday, the healthcare provider announced that it was partnering with the Orlando Magic and Florida Citrus Sports to provide grant funding for the food collection bus, which will travel throughout Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties throughout December. The bus will deliver its food to the Second Harvest Food Bank, which will, in turn, distribute the food to Central Florida schools.
“We just couldn't sit on the sidelines,” said Sharon Line Clary, the senior vice president of community impact and partnership engagement at AdventHealth. “We had to help our kids out there. If kids go hungry, they can't learn, they can't feel their best, and this holiday season, no kid should go hungry.”
AdventHealth approached the partners after its July community survey found that food insecurity was one of the region's most urgent problems, Line Clary said.
“We were hearing from our schools, we were hearing from families, and we said, we have to do something,” she said.
Collectively, AdventHealth, the Orlando Magic and Florida Citrus Sports donated $361,000 in grant funding for the bus, the healthcare provider said.
According to Second Harvest, one in six school-age children in the region faces hunger. The holiday bus will serve nearly 200,000 students, said Dan Samuels, the director of philanthropy for Second Harvest.
“Over 70 school markets in the schools, kids can have access to food without any stigma, with their dignity intact. If you're hungry, you get access,” he said.
The school markets will remain open during weekends and through the holidays.
While food insecurity is nothing new in Central Florida, the 43-day-long government shutdown exacerbated the issue at the start of November when supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits were temporarily disabled.
Throughout Central Florida, more than half a million people receive SNAP benefits, according to Second Harvest.
“For every meal that Second Harvest puts out, their SNAP food stamps put out nine times as many meals. The reality is we could never keep up with the need in our community over the course of that government shutdown,” Samuels said.
However, the effects of the shutdown linger over Central Florida’s most vulnerable families.
“The government might have reopened, but there are so many families who maybe put bills on credit cards or who had to rebalance their budgets that have had to shift the way they manage their finances,” Samuels said. “Because of that, we've had so many folks who are now still working on getting back on their feet.”
The bus will stop in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole from Dec. 1 through Dec. 20. A list of the bus stops can be found at feelwholeholiday.com.
Needed donations are:
- Meals in a can
- Canned vegetables
- Canned soup
- Canned fruit
- Canned meats and poultry
- Canned tuna
- Oatmeal
- Dry beans
- Pasta/ macaroni
- Rice Nonfat dry milk
- Evaporated milk
- Drinks
- Nutritional drinks
- Baby food
