Thanks to Florida Senator Danny Burgess, and Florida Representative Lawrence McClure, the state of Florida gave a $2 million grant that allows the United Food Bank of Plant City (UFB) to complete its new facility on Alsobrook St. Since October 2023, the food bank has been operating out of a building on the Hillsborough Community College campus in Plant City.
“A food bank in a community does a lot of things,” said McClure “It cuts down violent crime 12 percent. It cuts down people robbing and stealing things because they don’t have to worry about putting food on the table. There is a lot of benefit this community gets from this.”
Below is the growth between 2016 and 2022 in what has been provided by the UFB:
Individuals: 40,000 – 152,607
Services to families 12,000 – 60,147
People served 3,026 – 16,880
Pounds of food given 157,783 – 2,759,070
The new facility will quadruple the capacity of the UFB to serve people. When completed in October, the building will be 111,038 cubic feet with a 16 foot ceiling, have 5,000 square feet of storage, and contain a 1,847 square foot sorting room for kids’ food, among other things.
“This is going to be pivotal for this area,” Mary Heysek, President of United Food Bank of Plant City, said. “Logistically it will be much better because every month we are fighting food insecurity for over 10,000 people who live in East Hillsborough County.”
“It is more than just giving food out. After we get into the new building, we want to be able to teach a sustainability class on growing food in small areas,” Heysek added. “And there will be a computer lab where people can learn and search for jobs.”
“We have prayed about this moment and we are so excited for our new foodbank to open,” said Dodie White, Chair of the Board of Directors for the UFB. “With the help of Lawrence McClure and Danny Burgess, the contribution is going to allow us to open our building and be debt free. They both tag-teamed in the effort, and we very much appreciate them, their staff, Governor DeSantis, and everyone from the state who worked so hard on this endeavor! So, all of our monies that we fundraise, and other contributions can actually purchase food, and add new programs that will help individuals in our community who really need it.”
“Our ask was for $1 million,” said Burgess. “It ended up with $2 million. It doesn’t happen without this magician. You never get double the money in the budget unless you are working with Lawrence McClure. Oh by the way, the next two years let’s try to triple things.”