FORT MYERS, Fla. — September is National Hunger Awareness month, and at 8 a.m. on Friday, National Hunger Action Day, Harry Chapin Food Bank started a 24-hour sort-a-thon event to raise awareness for food insecurity in Southwest Florida. Harry Chapin Food Bank distributes three million pounds of food a month across Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades Counties.
40 to 50 volunteers per shift organize and inspect food for the food bank's 170 partners. Volunteers from Florida Gulf Coast University, T-Mobile, Aetna and other locals will help in the next twenty-four hours.
Harry Chapin Food Bank’s Chief Development Officer Stuart Haniff said, “We really want to drive home the message that hunger never sleeps, and this is a great reminder to folks we feed 255,000 individuals across our five-county footprint every single month.”
According to Harry Chapin Food Bank one in eight adults and one in six children are food insecure in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades Counties.
This month Suncoast Credit Union will match every dollar donated to Harry Chapin Food Bank. The 24-hour event ends at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
