Harry Chapin Food Bank

Harry Chapin Food Bank collecting turkeys and hams for distribution.

The Harry Chapin Food Bank is declaring an emergency as the federal government shutdown enters its fifth week with thousands of Southwest Florida families struggling to put food on the table, SNAP benefits about to be paused and federal employees in critical roles such as transportation and public safety continuing to go unpaid.

The Florida Highway Patrol’s annual Stuff The Charger nonperishable food drive starts Saturday (Nov. 1) and will extend through November 30.

Nonnprofits have seen a surge in the amount of people needing their food pantry services. This is especially tough in the summer months.

GL Homes conducted building of an unusual kind Monday — and ended up helping relieve hunger.The mission was for two teams combined from GL Homes communities in Lee and Collier counties to go can-to-can in the annual GL Homes CAN-tastic Competition.

A new online platform launched by the Harry Chapin Food Bank helps area residents locate food pantries, distribution sites

One in 12 seniors in Southwest Florida experiences food insecurity. That number is a result of many factors that include inflation, expensive housing in the region, and aging-related medical expenses. Harry Chapin Food Bank’s Care and Share senior feeding program seeks to alleviate these economic pressures by giving seniors monthly free meal kits.

The need for food assistance remained vital for many in Southwest Florida in 2024 as evidenced by a more than 10 percent increase in food distribution — more than 4 million pounds — reported by the Harry Chapin Food Bank.Additionally, Chapin reported large upticks in several children-focused food distribution programs.Chapin's distribution of 39.5 million pounds of food through its Feeding Network in 2024 equates to an additional 3 million meals served to neighbors across Southwest Florida.

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 from Feeding 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.