Every day, volunteers line up at Orlando’s Second Harvest food bank to prepare meals for Central Florida residents in need. Because much of the work in the region is seasonal and pays below the national average, one in six residents are considered food insecure, meaning they don’t always know where their next meal is coming from.footnote1
Food banks like Second Harvest are part of a national battle against hunger that feeds more than 46 million Americans every year. Ending food insecurity is a critical social issue in the United States and a key priority for Bank of America. In 2004, Second Harvest was the first Central Florida Neighborhood Builders award recipient, a Bank of America program that provides $200,000 in unrestricted funding and training for two organization leaders. When individuals and families don’t have to worry about where their next meal comes from, they gain the power to improve their future.
Now, helped in part by the Neighborhood Builder’s grant, Second Harvest can sustain its mission and provide food relief for nearly half a million Florida residents annually. What follows is a look into the daily effort that Second Harvest and its volunteers undertake to feed the working poor in Central Florida.