Southwest Florida’s food insecurity problem is due in part to high housing prices, inflation, and recent events like the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ian.
St. Matthew’s House, a Collier-based nonprofit dedicated to fighting hunger, homelessness and addiction, has changed its food pantry model to meet increased needs for no-cost food.
The nonprofit converted to a choice market model last year and moved to a larger space. It operates identically to a grocery store, without price tags.
Recipients can visit for 15 minutes once a week, and can choose from a variety of products. Liz McCoy-Ferreira, community outreach specialist at St. Matthew’s House, explains how the change in model has increased the impact of the pantry.
“We transitioned our very small pantry. We saw about 30 people a day back then,” McCoy-Ferreira said. “Now we’re a much bigger community choice pantry, where now we're seeing, in four days a week, over 400 families in a day.
Individuals and families are capped to a certain amount of each item they can receive per trip. For example, someone can get up to 5 smaller vegetables, but maybe only one dessert item. McCoy-Ferreira added that the element of choice helps the people that need it most.
“If a person is a diabetic, maybe they would like to have brown rice. They’re able to choose that brown rice versus white rice,” McCoy-Ferreira said.
St. Matthew’s House obtains food from local grocers and farmers with spare nonperishables — and even meat and produce. The market is equipped with freezers and refrigerators to provide nutritious food that most food pantries don’t have the infrastructure to store properly.
The offering of meat has been great for customer Jean Tibbs, who started using St. Matthew’s House’s food resources following Hurricane Ian. She utilizes the market’s point system, in which customers donate unused food, or engage with St. Matthew’s House resources, like career development classes and volunteering. This allows her to redeem a voucher to receive more food items each week.
“They always have a good variety of stuff,” Tibbs said. “And then the meat, which we all know how expensive that is nowadays. It’s at least $50, $60 a week that I can get in groceries from here.”
According to the nonprofit, the community choice pantry saves southwest Floridians $471,000 monthly. But beyond the financial impact, there’s an emotional impact from community support and relief from food insecurity.
“This right here here helps me a lot, sometimes it makes me cry," Delma Garza, pantry customer and volunteer, said. “It helps a lot of people, and they all say thank you. They grab you and they hug you, because they're so grateful for everything we do for them.”
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