TAMPA, Fla.– Feeding Tampa Bay (FTB) provides food assistance for 10 counties in Florida and has been involved with recovery efforts for the recent hurricanes.
Florida was hit by Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton a little over a week apart.
Resources were in need after Helene brought an intense and record-breaking storm surge.
At the distribution sites, they provided meals and other resources such as FEMA support.
An ABC article said FTB provided 1.2 million meals after Helene.
Before the community could fully recover, Hurricane Milton came across with heavy rain and strong winds, causing further damage to residents’ homes.
Most people were out of power for a week, and some still had no home to return to from Helene.
FTB was back out, ready to help the community once again with these resources.
Thomas Mantz, president and CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay, said seeing people lose everything and knowing that this organization can help makes it special.
“When there is water damage, power out, and other compromising conditions for families that we serve, we are the first 24 to 72 hours after a storm providing water and meals ready to eat, something you can consume without power,” said Mantz.
He said they supply other items such as diapers, cleaning supplies, pet food and other emergency needs during those 72 hours after the storm.
When power is restored they help restock pantries to help with the loss of meals they bought.
“Back-to-back storms are really tough. We’re on average supply about 200,000 meals a day into our community. During storm response we’ve been supplying about 400,000 meals a day,” said Mantz.
Mantz said they start getting trucks ready with supplies the day before, so they can immediately respond.
The organization works with law enforcement, emergency service providers, other nonprofit organizations, elected officials, and county officials to make sure they can get to the damaged communities.
”We had about 4,600 volunteers helped us during the disaster relief efforts. That’s about a two-and-a-half to three-week period,” said Mantz.
Professor of anthropology David Himmelgreen, from the University of South Florida, has been involved with FTB since 2013. He is now a board member and has connected the university with the organization.
USF and FTB have been working together since 2015 on ways to find solutions to hunger.
Himmelgreen said FTB and its partners have done a phenomenal job in providing food and other resources for those after Helene and Milton.
“Feeding Tampa Bay has the expertise in disaster preparation and relief, a highly motivated and dedicated team, and a new facility that is designed for these emergency situations,” said Himmelgreen.
He said his favorite part about this organization is the selfless people who help FTB end hunger in Tampa Bay.
“USF conducted a study on the impact of a Food Rx program that was in collaboration between FTB and Evara Health. The results showed several positive outcomes of the program,” he said.
FTB is involved with school pantries for public schools and universities, nutrition education, and job training programs.
“Students should definitely volunteer at Feeding Tampa Bay. There are many opportunities including ones for college students,” said Himmelgreen.
USF isn’t the only university in Tampa that works closely with FTB. The University of Tampa has also been affiliated with this organization for a few years.
Chiara Brown is the public relations director for the PEACE organization at UTampa.
She said the campus organization went out after the hurricanes to help prepare and distribute to the communities in need.
When school resumed after Milton, Brown said PEACE was collecting donations for FTB, and it was successful.
“We have a close affiliation with Feeding Tampa Bay. They were super grateful we have this organization and loved that we were trying to help any way we could,” said Brown.
Brown said that they send people to the FTB warehouse and the Trinity Cafe that the organization owns.
“It’s really cool to see all the food donated going to the cafe which is like a full circle,” she said.
To get involved with future volunteer events with FTB through UTampa, students can go to InvolveUT and stay up to date on their Instagram page @peace_volunteercenter.
To help volunteer directly with FTB, students and residents in Tampa Bay can volunteer through their portal.