Patch Give-A-Ton Food Drive Under Way in Tampa Bay

The Patch RV will be in Brandon on May 8 to collect food donations collected at five Greater Brandon locations as part of the Give-A-Ton Food Drive involving Patch sites throughout the South Florida region.

In the more immediate Tampa Bay area, there are sister Patch sites for Bloomingdale-Riverview, Carrollwood-Northdale, New Tampa, Seminole Heights, South Tampa-Hyde Park, Temple Terrace and Westchase.

Also participating, Patch sites for Bradenton, Clearwater, Dunedin, Gulfport, Land O' Lakes, Largo, New Port Richey, Old Northeast-Downtown St. Pete, Palm Harbor, Pinellas Beaches and Sarasota.

To achieve the Patch goal of collecting 2,000 pounds or more of nonperishable food items, donations in Brandon are being accepted during regular business at:

• , 405 Beverly Blvd.
• , 619 Vonderburg Drive
• HCC at The Regent (lower level, Brandon campus satellite of Hillsborough Community College), 6437 Watson Road, Riverview
• , 2080 Badlands Drive
• Uncle Mike's Smokehouse Grill, 9847 East Adamo Drive

Financial contributions can be made online at the donation page for Feeding America Tampa Bay. Select the "Patch Give-A-Ton Food Drive" program designation.

______________

Preparing Your List For Food Drive Donations:

There are only two rules for the Patch Give-A-Ton Food Drive:

No glass.

And no perishables.

Items most needed are:

• Canned meats (tuna, chicken, ham, sausage)
• Canned fruits and vegetables
• Canned and boxed meals (soup, chili, stew, macaroni)
• Canned or dried beans (black, pinto, kidney, lentils)
• Pasta
• Rice
• Cereal (low sugar, high fiber)
• Cereal and fruit bars
• Crackers
• Peanut butter
• Dry milk
• Paper goods (plates, paper towels)
• Personal products (deodorant, soap)

______________

From An Earlier Patch.com Give-A-Ton Food Drive Report:

Nearly 20 percent of Tampa Bay area residents go to bed wondering where their next meal will come from. Some 30 percent of children struggle with hunger.

Those figures come from Feeding America Tampa Bay, which is a regional food bank that supplies more than 700 agencies throughout West Central Florida with the food their clients need to survive.

Food collected in the Give-A-Ton Food Drive will in turn be distributed through Feeding America Tampa Bay's partner agencies to people in need.   

According to Debbi McCarthy, director of development for Feeding America Tampa Bay, the agency serves a poverty population of some 700,000 people.

“Florida is ranked fourth in the nation for family hunger in households containing at least one child,” McCarthy said. “In the past 12 months, the food bank supplied more than 2 million pounds of food to its 10-county service area – enough to provide more than a million and a half meals every month to those who would otherwise go hungry."

Feeding America Tampa Bay serves Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus, Sumter, Hardee, Highlands and Manatee counties.

With summer just around the corner, the need for support is growing even stronger, McCarthy said.

“Summer is a particularly difficult time for food insecure children, who have no access to the federally funded school meals,” McCarthy said. “Heartbreakingly, many children face a long, hot, hungry summer.”

How far will a ton of food go?

“Two thousand pounds of food provides 1,600 meals,” McCarthy said. “We like to think of ‘missing meals’ for families when doing Hunger Math. One ton of food can gather 400 families of four around the table for a shared dinner. That’s a vision Patch readers can share with us and take pride in.”

______________