TAMPA — Three years ago, Feeding Tampa Bay promised to end hunger and food insecurity in the area by 2025. To do this, the nonprofit gave free healthy groceries to people with health problems and put more food pantries in the neediest schools in the area.
Then a pandemic, inflation, and a hurricane happened, and people realized how weak so many families are.
“The pandemic showed us a lot of things that shocked us,” said Thomas Mantz, the head of the nonprofit. “It was the fact that our community, our employers, and our families were weak.”
A key part of the group’s plan to keep doing its work is to build a new headquarters. It has to turn away 25% of the food that is donated right now because it doesn’t have enough room in the 80,000-square-foot warehouse it rents on Adamo Drive in Tampa. With a new building, its size would be more than doubled to 210,000 square feet.
Wednesday morning, the nonprofit’s leaders talked about their plans. Many families are still living paycheck to paycheck because of rising rent and property prices and low wages.
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— Feeding Tampa Bay (@FeedingTampaBay) November 4, 2022
During the pandemic, tens of thousands of families had to wait in car lines to get food. The situation has gotten better, but a nonprofit group says that a million people in the 10-county area around Tampa Bay still don’t have enough to eat. That includes 1 out of every 4 kids. Food insecurity means not having regular access to healthy, affordable food.
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With a bigger warehouse, the new facility on Causeway Boulevard would let the group feed more people and offer a variety of services to help those who come because they are hungry or can’t afford groceries.
Plans include a job training center, a health clinic, and offices where families can get help with housing, financial advice, and applications for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which was called the Food Stamp Program until 2008.
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“We see it as a way to grow the mission,” said Kelley Sims, who is in charge of fundraising for the nonprofit. “It really changes how we all help our neighbors who are in need as a community.”
The center will be at 4000 Causeway Blvd., which is close to Port Tampa Bay land. The site is about 18 acres. Public records show that the nonprofit bought the property in 2021 for almost $7 million.
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— Feeding Tampa Bay (@FeedingTampaBay) November 5, 2022
Sims wouldn’t say how much it will cost to finish the new building, but he did say that 80% of the money has already been raised. That included $5 million from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Hillsborough County got to help with COVID-19 relief.
In March, Hillsborough County said that the project will cost “more than $50 million.”
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— Feeding Tampa Bay (@FeedingTampaBay) November 4, 2022
On Wednesday, officials from BayCare Health Center, one of Feeding Tampa Bay’s partners on FoodRx, were at the Tampa River Center for an event. FoodRx is a “food pharmacy” program that gives residents with health problems free healthy fruit and vegetables, whole-wheat pasta, and low-sodium sauce. The hope is that if people eat healthier food, they will go to the hospital less.
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The 15 hospitals run by BayCare in the Tampa Bay area have also found that not having enough food is a major cause of health problems. Keri Eisenbeis, vice president of government affairs and community relations at BayCare, said that about 70% of its patients are asked about their food situation and that the information is put in their medical files.
She said, “This is a chance to look at how food causes chronic diseases.” “Patients are really getting dietary advice based on their disease, and we’re keeping track of the results.”
Feeding Tampa Bay has also given food to close to 80 school pantries in the Tampa Bay area that need it. The items are not just for the students, but also for their families.
Addison Davis, superintendent of Hillsborough County Schools, one of the districts that work with the program, said, “We can’t just focus on developing the whole child; we have to focus on developing the whole family.”
