JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – According to data from FeedingAmerica.org, 1 in 6 children faces hunger in Florida.
Hunger Fight is working to change that and to improve child literacy -- and it’s expanding its ability to do just that.
The local group is breaking ground at its new headquarters on St. Johns Bluff Road that will include an office and a nearly 13,000-square-foot warehouse.
Hunger Fight already feeds a little over 12,000 per week on average, and the executive director said the expansion will allow the group to potentially feed an additional several thousand children per week.
The nonprofit provides meals to thousands of elementary students on the weekends in 16 North Florida counties and South Georgia.
Executive Director Sherri Porter said childhood hunger isn’t something that people realize happens in their own communities.
“A lot of time students don’t have a choice on how they get their meal,” Porter said. “They get free breakfast and lunch at school. When they go home at night sometimes, they don’t have anything, and they don’t have a choice. Then they go home on the weekends and don’t have anything on the weekend.”
Hunger Fight has served 17.1 million people since launching in 2012.
The group partners with at least 22 local food banks.
Within the last two years, they’ve seen a higher demand for food because of the pandemic and rising food prices caused by inflation.
“That’s what hurt a lot of these food banks and the programs that we do try to support,” Porter said. “It’s the price increases everywhere. That’s why they call us and ask if they could buy pallets of our food for their food banks. Their shelves are empty.”
The new headquarters and warehouse on St. Johns Bluff are going to be much larger than their current facility and will allow for more packing space.
The project in total costs $1.5 million and is expected to be worth the price.
“We could probably do up to 20,000 more kids a week with the savings we would do having our own building in our own space and we’re trying to reach as many kids as we can,” Porter said.
Hunger Fight will hold a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning at the new St. Johns Bluff location.
Construction is expected to wrap up in October.