Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger

1 in 6 people in Tampa Bay are food insecure or do not know where their next meal will come from. Since 2010, the Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has been dedicated to ending hunger by providing collaborative support to local agencies and non-profits that help hundreds of thousands of families and individuals each year. 

TBNEH has over 350 active members, including agencies and individuals, that serve the communities of Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties. Together, we work to find solutions to end hunger by sharing experiences and knowledge and by partnering to strengthen our efforts. Our members include agencies like the Department of Health, ECHO, Meals On Wheels, St. Petersburg Free Clinic and Trinity Cafe. A complete listing of members is available at http://networktoendhunger.org/membership.

On this Give Day, your gift will help ensure that our agency members have the tools necessary to reduce hunger and create hunger-free communities. You can help us reach our $5,000 goal.

What we provide our members:

•  Important data and information tools that enhance our members daily efforts to reduce hunger. Each year, TBNEH collects data from its tri-county members to update the Hunger Gap Map. This tool is utilized by all of our members to learn where food is available or supplied by agency support and where the demand or need for food is located by zip code.
• We host a monthly meeting and an annual educational conference for our members to create a forum for discussion and the opportunity for collaboration, while sharing the latest research, trends and developments in our counties, state and nation. At the 2017 annual Sunshine Summit to End Hunger conference, over 275 volunteers packaged 85,000 meals in less than two hours.  The meals were delivered to our tri-county agency members to distribute to their clients.
• We offer project support to our members by developing and implementing pilot programs, creating and distributing surveys, performing research and evaluations,  providing expert guidance and education from professionals in the field, and helping our members keep up to date with latest technology to help eliminate hunger.

TBNEH has been bringing individuals and groups together to create and implement new programs that help to reduce barriers our neighbors face when trying to access and afford healthy and nutritious food. 

This Give Day Tampa Bay, our goal is to raise $5,000 to be able to support and expand the various programs that have been developed by TBNEH members, as well as general programming needs.

Some of the programs that have been developed and expanded as a result of the collaborative efforts of TBNEH and its members include: 

• The Alternate Breakfast Program, which provides breakfast carts to schools, has increased breakfast consumption by more than 56% in Pinellas County school kids and provides an average of 6,050 breakfast meals/each month. As a result of this program, schools in Pinellas County, like Belcher Elementary, are now serving over 26,000 children breakfast every day! Watch the video below to learn more about how your gift would impact this program today.
• The Summer Food Program, is focused on increasing participation at Summer Break Spots through marketing and outreach. These spots (or sites) provide food to kids at different locations in the community during the summer months.  At one of the Pasco sites, a girl named Jasmine, 6 years old, walked up to a TBNEH member with her siblings. While hugging the member, she said, “If you weren’t here, we would have nothing to eat today.” Watch the video below to learn more.
• The Garden to Go Program has provided over 150 households with portable, self-contained sub-irrigation boxes to grow herbs and vegetables, verbal and written instructions on how to grow their own food, and nutrition education from volunteer garden experts. Garden box recipients include the eldery, disabled, children, families, and individuals. Surveys have revealed that recipients have increased knowledge of how to grow, harvest, and eat their home-grown produce; stretch their monthly budget by growing their own vegetables; cook and enjoy more meals at home; and be more physically active while enjoying a hobby.
• Most recently, a Transportation Pilot Program has been developed to help bring food insecure college students to and from pantries or markets by utilizing church vans when they are not in use. The latest statistics published reveal 40% of college students are food insecure.

Our innovative programs, passionate members, and collaborative outreach efforts are essential to the health and well being of community members across Tampa Bay.

Your gift can make a difference in thousands of lives this Give Day by supporting TBNEH and helping us to reach our goal of $5,000 to be able to support and expand the various programs that have been developed by TBNEH members, as well as general programming needs.