Second Harvest Hunger Caravan hits the road, distributes food resources to residents in Alachua County

The inaugural Second Harvest North Florida Hunger Caravan took to the roads and delivered important food resources to more than 350 low-income households in Alachua County on Tuesday, Aug. 17.

Second Harvest teamed with Bread of the Mighty Food Bank of Gainesville to open the seven-week, 10-stop tour of north Florida. The first distribution of the day took place at Citizen’s Field in Gainesville, where 250 recipients received USDA and supplemental food resources in a morning event. The caravan then distributed to an additional 150 residents waiting at Fellowship Church in High Springs later in the afternoon.

“It was a hot day but one that certainly allowed us to achieve our goals,” Second Harvest Executive Director Thomas Mantz said. “We reached out to people in need and provided them with some important food relief. This caravan is all about helping people. We were able to do that today.”

The purpose of the caravan is to provide emergency relief to low-income families throughout the 18-county area served by Second Harvest – which includes Alachua – as well as to reinforce the Second Harvest mission of serving those in need. Bread of the Mighty services five counties as a Subsidiary Distribution Organization (SDO) of Second Harvest.

The caravan will continue next week with distributions in Flagler and Putnam counties on Thursday, Aug. 26 – with more than 500 households expected to receive food during the two events. Other events are planned in St. Johns, Duval, Nassau, Clay, Columbia and Suwannee counties.

Photo Gallery (Aug. 17 from Gainesville & High Springs)

Video (Aug. 17 from Gainesville & High Springs)

ABOUT SECOND HARVEST:
• Second Harvest has been leading the fight against hunger in north Florida for more than 30 years. As a member of Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network, it is responsible for food distribution in 18 counties in north Florida. To accomplish this task, Second Harvest utilizes relationships with Subsidiary Distribution Organizations (SDOs) in Gainesville (Bread of the Mighty Food Bank), Lake City (Catholic Charities Food Bank) and St. Augustine (Salvation Army Food Bank).
• Second Harvest will eclipse more than 15 million pounds of food distributed into north Florida this calendar year – which equates to more than 12 million meals for people in need.