Mobile food pantry makes stop on island
Last Wednesday afternoon, the Beacon of H.O.P.E. sponsored a visit from the Harry Chapin Mobile Food Pantry at Pine Island United Methodist Church where it provided food to 160 Pine Island families.
The Harry Chapin Mobile Pantry Program was established in July 2010. Since then it has delivered thousands of meals of fresh produce and food to families in need. The food bank staff works together to coordinate food quantities, distribution rates, location and partnerships, including making volunteer arrangements.
The event was sponsored by the Pine Island Beacon of HOPE.
“This is a cooperative effort with Harry Chapin Food Bank, Publix, United Way, the Salvation Army and the Beacon of H.O.P.E. to feed families in need on Pine Island and Lee County,” Beacon executive director Betsy Haesemeyer said. “This is about our sixth or seventh year and this year we had 160 families pre-register for today.”
Each year the event gets bigger and better.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for people to get fresh groceries, vegetables and meat,” Haesemeyer said. “And inside we have a number of vendors. In addition to providing sessions about our GED program, we have Walgreen’s providing flu shots, Family Health Centers offering blood pressure checks, ACCESS cell phones for low income families and Goodwill’s Job Link.”
Kim Berghs is the director for the United Way volunteer center for Lee, Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee counties.
“What we are doing today is part of the summer Mobile Food Pantry Series.” she said.
“This summer program is unique in that we partnered with Publix, Harry Chapin and host agencies like the Beacon of H.O.P.E. to bring these services to the people.”
“I couldn’t be happier with the turnout of volunteers today,” Haesemeyer said. “This is a crucial time for people and the need is greater than ever. Volunteers from Harry Chapin, Salvation Army, United Way, Beacon board members and even children and grandchildren are helping us today. I’m thrilled that with a lot of help we were able to get this together.”