“Last year alone, we distributed 87 million meals,” explained Lorena Hardwick, Chief External Affairs Officer for Feeding Tampa Bay. “We partnered with over 310 agencies, logged over 160-thousand volunteer hours, and supplied nearly 2.3 million meals through our 75 school pantries, afterschool meals and summer feeding programs.” With a pulse on the community and plenty of experience adapting to change, Feeding Tampa Bay has been serving the region for more than 40 years. Their not-so-secret sauce is support from the business community. Case in point: its new 215,000 square feet facility. It’s a community center not just in name only. It was built by the community, for the community. This is the largest social service building effort in Tampa Bay. It creates increased capacity to help serve ten counties across the region. How much? By more than double. FTB’s capacity for food storage and processing will increase from 87 million meals annually to more than 150 million meals. The need is great. Last year at their Trinity Café locations alone, FTB served 162-thousand hot meals in a region where 1 in 6 adults and 1 in 4 children are food insecure.
This Chamber Member since 2018 serves nearly one million individuals each year. It's the largest provider of food to pantries and assistance programs in the Tampa Bay region. The 42-year-old organization is also one of the largest recyclers in West Central Florida. Before opening its first ever owned facility on Causeway Boulevard, FTB had to turn away as much as 25% of donated food because it lacked the proper food storage space at its original East Hillsborough County warehouse. The innovations built-in to the new location will not only store twice the amount of fresh produce and perishable goods, but it will also reduce the cost of meals by 25%. The 11,000 square feet kitchen on-site will allow FTB to prepare 10-thousand meals per day and a learning zone will offer free, monthly community classes and job training programs.
Most importantly, FTB is expanding its mission – offering far more than food. “In order to meet the needs of our community, FTB has had to extend its reach beyond merely supplying food to those in need. Food alone does not solve hunger so we are embracing innovation and adaptability,” said Hardwick, “and are on an ambitious mission to reshape the very terrain of food insecurity.”
Explaining food insecurity to legislators, voters and decision makers at the local, state and federal level is complicated, riddled with the derailing forces of stereotypes, indifference, and misunderstanding of the issues involved. As the advocate for FTB, Hardwick’s job is about way more than talking about food. “We firmly believe in the potential of every individual and understand that food paves the way for a brighter future. We offer connections to SNAP benefits, housing assistance, healthcare navigation, food prescriptions, and other vital social services along with workforce development to create long-term stability.”
Since 2023, Hardwick has helped lead policy and legislative changes for the non-profit that stands as the regional leader in hunger relief. Among the complex programs being championed by FTB at the federal level is passage of the Farm Bill, which funds The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, most commonly known as SNAP. “We are asking Congress to double TEFAP funding and improve SNAP access for older adults, college students, veterans, working families, and others who do not qualify for or face enrollment barriers,” explained Hardwick. “In addition, Congress has the opportunity to expand and extend the Child Tax Credit. Over the years the child tax credit reached over 61 million children in more than 36 million households, and funds were primarily used for childcare, food, housing and other basic needs. It is a powerful weapon in the fight against poverty.”
At the state level, FTB is partnering with other organizations to encourage state officials to opt in to the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer, or Summer EBT, a food assistance program for children in families with low income. The program provides each eligible child a total of $120 (or $40 per month) in grocery assistance during the summer, when school is out, to supplement summer meals. Summer EBT would provide over 2 million hungry children in Florida with roughly $259 million in federal food assistance.
On June 12, 2024, the non-profit reached the 6-year anniversary of joining the Tampa Bay Chamber. That Chamber start date in 2018, under the leadership of President/CEO Thomas Mantz, ushered a movement in the business community that has raised awareness of food insecurity across the region, inspired countless of hours of volunteerism at FTB’s warehouse, and resulted in food donations in the thousands of pounds. Mantz, a member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, never wastes an opportunity to convey that local businesses of every size and industry have a place at the FTB table. Neither does his team. “As a Chamber member, we’ve had the opportunity to sit on various committees. Most recently on the Policy Council, which provides a forum to share the issues impacting food policy and how it intertwines with healthcare and economic opportunities that impacts the overall health of our communities,” said Hardwick.
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U.S. Census Bureau Data: Food insecurity is defined as the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods. In the U.S., an estimated 40 million people are facing food insecurity. In Florida, that’s 3.1 million people.