June Food Drive

FPC Hosts Annual Food Drive to Assist Community

First Presbyterian’s Church’s (FPC) annual June Food Drive has been assisting the community via local nonprofit organizations for more than two decades, according to Nancy Bertram, FPC’s Missions Coordinator.

“There is a great need in our community for food,” Bertram says. 

Each year, throughout the month of June, the congregation brings non-perishable food donations which will be sorted (in part by individuals in our Special Needs Ministry) and then distributed to six local mission partners.

Our Vacation Bible School children have a competition between the classes to see who can bring in the most donations for the June Food Drive.

“Each year, our VBS families contribute to the church’s June food drive,” says Anna Butler, Director of Children’s Ministries. “We love being able to give back to the community. This allows us to show the children that there are kids just like them in Lakeland that we can help with something as small as a bag of rice.”

“Starting in 2015, our older teens and adults with special needs have been of service during the VBS Food Drive,” says Libby Chappell, Special Needs Ministry Coordinator.

The six receiving organizations are: Anchor House, Lighthouse Ministries, Parker Street Ministries, Salvation Army, Talbot House, and VISTE (Volunteers In Service To the Elderly). 

FPC serves daily somewhere in the community through our mission partners. In addition to the six organizations that receive donations from the June Food Drive, we also partner with Gospel, Inc., Beth-El Farmworkers Ministry, Laundry Love, and kidsPACK.

“We try to cater to the mission of each organization when we distribute the collections,” Bertram says.

Through these opportunities, we have hundreds of volunteers who come together to feed the hungry, cheer the homebound, welcome the stranger, advocate for change, and minister to people in need. 

“Did you know that many seniors get by on fixed incomes of $1,200 per month or less? For them, there’s simply ‘too much month at the end of the money,’” says Steve Bissonnette, VISTE President. 

According to the National Philantrophic Trust, a public charity dedicated to providing philanthropic expertise to donors, foundations, and financial institutions, “Nonprofits are particularly vulnerable to inflation because they cannot react to rising prices the way businesses can.”

The June Food Drive assists these nonprofits in a tangible manner.

“VISTE helps bridge that gap for approximately 1,000 local seniors by providing a generous supply of supplemental groceries each month,” Bissonnette says. “In addition to donations received from Feeding Tampa Bay, local grocery stores, and other corporate partners, we are grateful to many churches, synagogues, civic groups, and schools for donations received through their individual food drives.”

“These donations introduce a wider variety of food items for our clients,” Bissonnette continues. “They also serve to demonstrate that although food insecurity is a large and complex issue, working together we can make a profound difference in the lives of our elderly brothers and sisters in need.”

The June Food Drive will run throughout the month of June. Donations may be left in the front office. 

Please contact Nancy Bertram nbertram@fpclakeland.org if you have any questions.

Resource materials: https://www.nptrust.org/philanthropic-resources/philanthropist/how-inflation-impacts-nonprofits-and-what-donors-can-do-to-help/

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