The line of residents at Grace Place Food Pantry in Golden Gate slowly inches forward on a Friday afternoon, pushing blue shopping carts and stopping at tables arrayed with meats, poultry, produce, dairy, canned and boxed foods to select what they want.
The food bank, which is open from 1-4 p.m., feeds about 350 families without charge weekly and distributed 609,000 pounds of food last year, according to CEO Lära Fisher. That’s worth about $1.17 million, making it Collier County’s largest food distribution site.
“In a community where many of our neighbors work multiple jobs to make ends meet and feed their children, having reliable access to nutritious food makes a profound difference,” Fisher said. “Each Friday, we see firsthand how this program strengthens our community and helps ensure no family has to choose between putting food on the table and paying other essential bills.”
WINK’s March to a Million Meals fundraiser, which continues through February, plays a critical role in funding the food pantry and other food-distribution programs. Donations help Harry Chapin Food Bank purchase nutritious food and distribute it to Southwest Florida’s shelters, soup kitchens and pantries.
Food that would otherwise go to waste is donated by supermarkets, food manufacturers, farms and community food drives and distributed to hungry children, families and seniors through programs that feed more than 250,000 residents monthly.
Last year, Harry Chapin Food Bank and its 175 partner agencies, including Grace Place, distributed 39.5 million pounds of food, including 10.5 million in fresh produce. Of that, 1.354 million meals were paid for by WINK News viewers who donated to March to a Million Meals; each donated dollar provides $2 in meals. To contribute, go to winkfeedsfamilies.com.
‘Hunger crisis is growing’
Last year, the food bank distributed 10.6% more meals than in 2023, an additional three million, including about 12.6 million pounds in Collier County, a 5% increase.
“Despite tremendous commercial growth and affluence in Southwest Florida, the hunger crisis is growing in our community,” said Richard LeBer, president and CEO, Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida. “So many of our neighbors — children, seniors, veterans and others — do not have reliable access to healthy, nutritious food, and it’s our mission to lead this community in the fight to end hunger.”
Grace Place Food Pantry benefits the nonprofit’s other mission, boosting literacy for children and families.
“We know that proper nutrition is absolutely essential for our students’ ability to focus, learn and reach their full potential in the classroom,” Fisher said.
Residents — mostly seniors and families — used to begin lining up for food hours before opening on Friday mornings, she said, adding, “We’ve gone to a ticket system so people don’t need to wait in line all day.”
Dairy is always popular, she said, along with meat products, such as poultry, pork or beef, with about 70% still wrapped in containers from Publix or other supermarkets. Grace Place purchases food from Harry Chapin Food Bank, in addition to other food sources, and receives donations by nonprofits and other groups. A recent $100,000 donation, Fisher said, will enable it to purchase a lot more food.
“Anything that children will eat is very popular,” Fisher said, noting that that includes shelf-stable products such as macaroni and cheese and cereal.
Many food pantries provide bags of food for families, but Grace Place Food Pantry is set up as a farmers market, with tables beneath white tents.
“We use a client-choice model, which allows families to pick the food that they want, and that reduces the amount of waste,” Fisher said. “Peanut butter is one of the very few shelf-stable forms of protein, so you would automatically give that to a household. But if the children are allergic to it, it may go to waste. By allowing families to pick what they will eat, there’s a great deal of dignity in that.”
This story was published in The Naples Press on Feb. 21.
