The Mission of the United Food Bank of Plant City is to provide assistance for the needy in moving them from a “state of hunger” and “impoverishment” to self-sufficiency, empowerment and self-reliance.
The vision of United Food Bank is to stamp out hunger in East Hillsborough County and raise the standard of living for the truly needy. It offers opportunities for self improvement, education, job skills, and enhancing life for individuals and families; and so effecting change for the community.
To this end, United Food Bank provides food directly to clients in the community through its Feeding Our Community program with on-site daily food distribution, and off-site in-need neighborhood outreach. Clients receive a box of food once every two weeks. Last year the food bank provided food for 152,607 people, and 60,147 services to families.
UNITED FOOD BANK AND SERVICES PROGRAMS INCLUDE:
Feeding Our Future. Students can get meals when they are in classes, but there are still two more days in a week. United Food Bank partners with social workers at 17 schools who identify kids who are in need of food over the weekends. To cover them during weekends, the kids can get a bag of food to take home. The Kids Break Bag Distribution offers bags of food daily to children while they are out of school for the summer. The food bank also has a partnership with Hillsborough Community College to help alleviate college students’ food insecurity.
Feeding Our Legacy. “Seniors have unique needs,” said Mary Heysek, President of United Food Bank of Plant City. “The majority are 85 to 100, living on their own. A lot of them are living on $800 to $900 a month.” This program helps provide for seniors with food and things like adult diapers and medications. United Food Bank delivers to two offsite locations—Plant City Towers and Bealsville.
F.E.E.D. The acronym stands for “Feeding, Educating, Empowerment, for Development.” This program teaches parents the correlation between nutrition and their children’s early learning, and how this affects academic performance.
Self Sufficiency Classes. These are classes to help people move from dependence to independence. United Food Bank offers Money Smart classes, health literacy classes, and cooking classes in Spanish and English. There are plans for sustainability classes to teach clients how to grow food in small areas. “People don’t realize all of the things we do,” Heysek commented. “For instance, the mentality is, ‘You are a food bank. You are just giving out free food to people,’ but we also have so many educational classes.”
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Volunteer:
On any given day, United Food Bank needs 15 to 25 volunteers to make the day happen. Sorting food, boxing food, handling logistics, checking in clients, and teaching classes are among the ways people can serve. People can contribute their time individually or in groups.
Give:
United Food Bank consistently needs dollars to operate. The food bank is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and so donations are tax-deductible. Find out how to donate online at https://ufbpc.org/.
Food For All is a fundraising dinner gala. This year’s event is “Saddle Up for a Cause,” and will be held February 1 at The Big Red Barn in Plant City. Table sponsorships are available.
The Empty Bowls Project is held on the second Saturday of each November. Tickets are sold. For this event participating artists and groups create and donate bowls, then serve a simple meal to attendees. The bowls are auctioned. Also, students in Hillsborough County Public Schools and home school groups create bowls that are displayed during the event, and ticket holders can choose one bowl of their liking to take home with them.