Summer, for many people, brings sun and fun ... for others though, it brings hunger.
Nearly 178,000 people in Southwest Florida faced food insecurity in 2022 and nearly 41,000 of those were children, according to the most recent data available fromFeeding America.
Those numbers are up from the previous year and are expected to keep rising as the Southwest Florida population grows.
In an effort to mitigate those statistics, GL Homes, one of Florida’s largest homebuilders, recently kicked off its 2024 “Summer of Service” with a “Pack the Pantry” event in support of the Harry Chapin Food Bank.
"GL Homes loves to get involved year round, but we especially like to help Harry Chapin Food Bank in the summertime because a lot of the seasonal people that they normally have volunteer are gone for the season," GL Homes Vice President/Project Manager Dianna Betancourt said. "And so summertime is a really great time for us to jump in. We have a lot of employees that love to help, and so it's just something that is very close to our hearts and one of our passions."
Betancourt said the food packaging event is an annual tradition but this year was the first time they made a competition out of it.
"We're making a friendly competition on getting 600 boxes of food prepared for the food bank," she said. "Even though it's a competition, we take this very seriously."
In the end, that competition went beyond that goal, putting together 891 boxes of food.
Those competing raced to see how many Harry’s Helpings meal kits each team could pack during a two-hour period.
The Harry’s Helpings kits are provided for families at childcare and early education centers throughout Southwest Florida.
What goes into the boxes is a mix of things: fruit and vegetables, pasta and pasta sauce, shelf stable milk and a protein such as tuna or chicken — about enough for 15 meals for mid-sized family, ensuring children and families have healthy options at mealtimes.
The program currently operates out of 10 sites throughout Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties. In 2022, Harry Chapin Food Bank distributed more than 170,500 pounds of food, the equivalent of more than 142,000 meals via the program.
Those helping got totally into the spirit.
Jack Stein, an FGCU student as well as a GL employee, said he enjoys getting involved with the community.
"I was like, this sounds like fun," the FGCU communications major said. "So we kind of made it into a little game. Like, we did one office versus two offices. And it was very fun actually, packing it and competing against them. At the end, when I looked and I saw how many we actually did, it felt super rewarding that that's really what we did. Because, it seems like it will make a difference."
The effort did mean quite a bit to Harry Chapin.
Richard LeBer, president and CEO of the food bank, said the goal was to try to build as many food kits as possible to feed the community.
"We love our volunteers. We get volunteers of all different kinds and all different groups. We do volunteer activities almost every day," LeBer said. "We have regular volunteers who come every week, and we have groups like GL Homes that come maybe once a year. It all is part of the you know, pageantry of our volunteering, we just love them."
LeBer said there are thousands of volunteers who put in thousands of hours annually.
"It's worth millions of dollars to the food bank because otherwise we would have to hire staff to do the work that they're doing for free," he said. "So we love them. They love us. It's a great combination."
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