The program helped more than 40,000 families over six days.
Lines of cars wrapped the area surrounding Plant City Stadium for six days, creating a seemingly endless clog of traffic as the Department of Children and Families Food for Florida Disaster Food Assistance program came to Plant City.
The rarely activated program is designed to help families who require food assistance as a result of disaster related losses. The program was activated following Hurricane Irma’s impact on Florida. Irma was the strongest hurricane to hit Florida since Wilma in 2005, the last time DCF activated the Food for Florida program.
According to the program’s guidelines, any resident of one of the 48 counties declared for FEMA Individual Assistance who does not currently receive assistance through the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and suffered disaster-related loss is eligible for the program. The program counts for income and expenses between Sept. 5 and Oct. 4.
Plant City stadium, known as a mega-site according to DCF staff, was designated to help distribute benefits for Hillsborough County residents, but wound up servicing residents of about 18 counties according to Natalie Harrell, communications director for DCF’s Suncoast region.
“We’re seeing people come from all over Florida,” Harrell said. “We’ve had people come from as far as Miami.”
Harrell said the staff, comprised of 208 DCF workers and 161 temporary workers, was trained and equipped to handle 20,000 households per day. The Plant City event, she said was “right on par with what we’re equipped to handle.”
The FFF program is a joint venture between DCF and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and not associated with FEMA, despite some confusion, Harrell said. DCF carries out the operation, but USDA provides the funding for the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and provides monitoring and site support.
Harrell said FEMA generally distributes food boxes immediately after disasters, slowing its efforts as DCF steps in.
“They ramp down their efforts as we ramp up our food assistance benefits,” she said. “There is confusion. I understand that.”
The Plant City site served almost 41,000 families during its six-day run. Including more than 7,500 on Tuesday, the program’s last in Plant City.
Once inside the stadium, visitors who preregistered reported getting through the process within five minutes. However, getting into the stadium took some more than six hours.
“They told me it was a three-hour wait,” Tampa resident James Boyer said as he approached the entrance gate around 4:30 p.m. “I’ve been here since 8:30.”
The long lines of vehicles virtually shut down portions of the city. For most of the event’s duration, Park Road was at a near standstill between Interstate 4 and the stadium. Approaching traffic also blocked portions of Alexander Street and closed off a portion of James L. Redman Parkway.
Some businesses along Park Road said they were shocked about the event, not knowing what was going on until employees called saying they couldn’t get to work.
“It was surprising to me. I didn’t understand at first,” Steve Maxwell, CEO of Highland Packaging Solutions said. “As a taxpayer, as a business owner, at least in my case, it was not well communicated.”
Two polling sites for Tuesday’s Florida House District 58 primary were moved in response to the traffic generated by the FFF program.
During Monday’s city commission meeting, Mayor Rick Lott acknowledged the burden of such a massive influx of people into Plant City.
I know it’s really been a burden to a lot of the business community we have, the citizens who’ve been held up in traffic,” Lott said. “However, on the other hand, once you're there and you see the families and the expressions on their faces and the need that they have, sometimes you have to help your fellow man. When you can touch that many people, you have to say there’s more good than harm in our city.”
Harrell said Plant City Stadium is one of many sites the DCF has a standing Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with, but was the only site available during the necessary period. Sites like the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds, Raymond James Stadium and the Florida State Fairgrounds were unavailable.
The city commission authorized interim City Manager Kim Leinbach to execute the MOU with DCF during the Sept. 25 commission meeting. Lott said the city manager’s office, city staff and the police department worked closely with DCF to create the best possible action plan to handle the event.
Plant City Stadium was only the second site activated for the FFF program following Irma, but more sites will be available across the state throughout the month of October. A site opens in Sarasota Friday and in Lakeland over the weekend. A full list of FFF sites is available on the DCF’s website.
Anyone wishing to visit a site for FFF is encouraged to preregister online to expedite the process.
