The Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger program "Creating a Regenerative Community Food System", in partnership with Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, uses the Waste No Food app, to help local non-profit organizations gain access to additional food resources. The app is also used to divert food scraps from the trash to animal feed or compost. As many soup kitchens, food pantries and hot meal providers try to cope with less donations and more demand, it is very important for organizations to have access to excess food. In fact, if organizations had access to all excess food, everyone in our tri-county network area could be fed. 

Food donors on the app include local restaurants, markets, farms and other vendors who have excess food that can be redistributed to people in need. The type and quantity of donated food varies. Sometimes, donations include canned goods, bread, sandwich platters or individually boxed meals leftover from a catered event.

When: 20 Dec 2019 12:00 PM, EST
Where: Microsoft teams link below or +1 941-306-1146 United States, Sarasota (Toll); Conference ID: 550 861 367#

Join us from 12-1pm on Friday, December 20th, for the Florida Food Forum on "Food Policy for Wellness." Guest speaker Dave Krepcho will be presenting about this important topic. Following the presentation will be a discussion and Q&A session.

Bio: Dave Krepcho is President/CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida; a member of Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger relief organization in the U.S. Second Harvest Food Bank serves a six County area in Central Florida through a network of 550 partner agencies. Last year, Second Harvest distributed enough food for 58 million meals, have trained and placed into jobs 280 graduates of their Culinary and Distribution Center Training programs and generated $100 million worth of SNAP benefits through their award-winning mobile outreach program. Second Harvest’s annual economic impact in Central Florida is $187 million. The organization annually receives Charity Navigator’s Four Star rating. Dave has 26 years’ experience in food banking in positions such as a national Feeding America Board member, past president of Feeding Florida, chair of the Feeding America eastern region, chaired various national task forces, member of a bi-partisan Washington, DC think tank, serves on the 4ROOTS Board as well as the Florida Nonprofit Alliance. He was the Orlando Sentinel’s Orlando Sentinel’s “2009 Central Floridian of the Year” and in 2019, Orlando Magazine’s “50 Most Powerful People: Philanthropy & Community Voices.” Prior to his role at Second Harvest, Dave was V.P. of Business Development at Feeding America. Before he reinvented himself as a food banker, he had a career in the Advertising Agency business and attended Columbus College of Art & Design. Dave is married with two children, seven grandchildren.

Forum Host: Dell deChant, Associate Chair, Religious Studies Department, University of South Florida.  Member of the Board of Directors, Florida Food Policy Council.

Celebrating a Healthy and Happy Heart

Thursday, February 13, 2020 from 11:00am – 2:00pm

Event Location: Dade Oaks Elderly, 37347 Autumn Drive, Dade City 33523
Non-profit organizations, businesses, entertainment, health screenings, services and activities for our vendors and guests.

Interested in exhibiting? Contact Bev Doucet at BDoucet@pascocountyhousing.org for additional information.

Poverty, food insecurity, and poor nutrition have harmful impacts on the health and well-being of older adults, which, in turn, can limit their ability to work (for those still capable of working), carry on daily activities, and live independently. One essential strategy to improve food security and health is connecting vulnerable older adults to the federal nutrition programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Congregate Nutrition Program, and Home-Delivered Nutrition Program. A new brief from FRAC reviews food insecurity rates and risk factors among older adults; the connections between food insecurity and health among older adults; and the effectiveness of the federal nutrition programs in alleviating food insecurity and supporting health for this population.

SNAP is the largest child nutrition program in the U.S. — almost half of all participants are children. Prior research has shown that SNAP participation is associated with decreased household and child food insecurity, improved birth outcomes, and reduced risk of anemia, obesity, and poor health. New research from Children’s HealthWatch in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine demonstrates that SNAP participation among families with young children is strongly associated with improvements in family food security, young children's health, and health care access.