Hello and welcome to "Your South Florida."

I'm Arlene Borenstein.

Today, we're diving into an urgent issue impacting over 1 million of our neighbors across South Florida.

Food insecurity.

When we talk about food insecurity, it's more than an empty pantry.

It's the uncertainty of not knowing if there will be enough to eat, or where the next meal will come from.

This challenge is especially severe in South Florida, where many neighborhoods are considered food deserts, areas with little to no access to fresh, affordable groceries.

For residents of these communities, just finding nutritious food is often an uphill battle, compounded by high living costs.

Today we're highlighting the vital work of organizations committed to fighting food insecurity right here in South Florida.

One of those leading the charge is the Palm Beach County Food Bank, a nonprofit that plays a crucial role in distributing nutritious food to families in need.

And joining me now to share more is Jamie Kendall, CEO of the Palm Beach County Food Bank.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Thank you for having me.

Of course.

We're so glad you're here to talk about this topic, so that people can help.

Let's start off with, you know, when we talk about food insecurity, what is it that we're saying?

Well, we are talking about the individual, the senior, the family that really does not know where their next meal is coming from.

They're that one disaster away, that one flat tire away, from not being able to put enough food on the table for themselves and their families.

How frightening for those folks, and what is the landscape in Palm Beach County?

What are you seeing right now?

We have seen an incredible increase, unfortunately.

So we've had a 31% increase over our numbers from last year.

We look at a study called "Map the Meal Gap," which tells us that over 173,000 individuals in Palm Beach County are at risk of being food insecure.

51,000 of those are children.

Wow, so that is what Palm Beach is seeing right now, according to real time data, it sounds like.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So again, we have seen it that the need grow at the inflationary issues that our working families are facing, are reaping havoc on just your everyday budget.

What about those are the primary factors, right?

Just what we're seeing with the costs of food.

Tell me more about that.

Absolutely.

So again, the inflationary issues, the cost of food, we're all seeing it every time we go to the grocery store, and the housing crisis right here in South Florida, and in Palm Beach County, the cost of housing has gone up.

So people are just really stretching their dollar, trying to make ends meet, and that little bit of extra assistance that they can get with food, and help with food for their family budget, goes a long way.

Talk to us about the clients who come to you guys for support.

Who are you helping?

So, in our field of work, we call it the Alice Population, Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.

So these are individuals and families that are employed, but just don't have the resources to make ends quite meet.

So it's not all of who you think it is?

Well, yes, we have a homeless population, and, yes, we have seniors that are living on fixed incomes.

It really is the workingclass poor, workingclass, incomeconstrained individuals that are having the hardest time making ends meet.

Turning to the positive, though, there are programs that can help.

Tell us a little bit more about what the PBC Food Bank does.

Sure, absolutely.

So, the biggest program that we have is called our Partner Marketplace.

So we partner with about 200 agencies in Palm Beach County.

So as a food bank, we work to procure food, we get food in from a number of different ways, and then we get that food out to our partner agencies that have their individualized programs.

So they're really kinda the boots on the ground for our biggest program, which is the Agency Marketplace.

But we also have other programs where we do direct distribution.

Our childhood hunger initiatives, that has certainly grown.

We have a big program called the Backpack Program, where we provide nutritious meals to the children.

We work very closely with our school system, and we get food out to the kids during the week, so that on the weekends they have those resources at home.

And then we also have our senior hunger programs, where we're making sure that our senior population has enough to eat and has the resource needed.

It's sad to think there are children out there who could be going hungry, so.

Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

It's kind of a quiet problem in our community.

A lot of people don't wanna talk about it.

A lot of people don't realize that it actually, in today's world, that people actually go to bed hungry, but they absolutely do, and a lot of people don't wanna bring it to anybody's attention.

We have seniors that we talk to on a daily basis that have always made it by, they've never had to ask for that little bit of help.

And now living on, you know, incomes that are, you know, super tight, and with the inflationary issues they just can't make it.

Well, tell us about the community kitchen.

This is a fun, cool, new way It is.

To get involved, and learn something and get some help.

Absolutely.

So we've been on this program and this project line for about two years, a little over two years.

And we just completed our community kitchen that opened for us in the beginning of July.

And that program is going to enable us to make hot nutritious meals for our kids programs, summer feeding programs, after school programs, and as well as our senior and homedelivered meal program.

So we're gonna be doing a lot outta that kitchen.

The kitchen is able to prepare up to 10,000 meals a day.

So when we really Busy.

Yeah, so when we really get ramped up with all of the addition of the new programs, we're gonna have the resources to do so.

And that starts in January, you said, right?

Yes.

We're making the meals right now, but we will also be having a culinary training program that starts in January.

So we're gonna have a cohort of students that will come through.

It's a free program to anybody that might be facing employment barriers, that is looking to get into the hospitality industry.

And so we're gonna give them the skillset needed to kinda remove them from the line of needing help.

So it's kind of a teach man to fish type of scenario.

Where then they can go out and get an employable job here in the community to better their lives and the lives of their families.

How can you volunteer at the food bank?

Sure.

So we can't do what we do every day without our volunteers.

We have volunteer groups coming in Monday through Friday, a few Saturdays a month.

You can go to our website, PBCFoodBank.org, hit on that volunteer link, and see all the different opportunities that we have, and sign up to come and help.

Food waste is a big issue here.

Tell us how you work to reduce that while addressing the hunger your community.

Absolutely.

So as a food bank, we rescue food.

That's the main thing that we do.

So we know that there is surplus of food at the grocery stores.

We know there's a surplus of food with our local agricultural community, the notsoperfect sweet potato, let's say that might not make it to the grocery store, but is perfectly nutritious and a great product.

And so we can kind of rescue some of those foods, and make sure that we can get those out into our community, and help with food waste at the same time.

You sort of make it sound easy, obviously it's not.

What are some of the biggest challenges, and also the goals you hope to achieve?

So our biggest challenge is just like everybody else, the food banks are facing inflationary issues.

A lot of times we have to purchase the food that we have for our programs.

So just like everybody else going to the grocery store, seeing that increase in what you're paying for that food, we're seeing as well.

So right now that's our biggest challenge is keeping up with the need, and making sure that we have the resources, and the financial resources, to make sure that nobody goes to bed hungry.

What are the type of donations, and the type of food or items that are in high demand right now?

Anything protein.

We love our protein items.

So our nonperishable protein items, our canned chicken, our canned tuna, our peanut butter, those types of protein items are always kinda low on our shelves, so we're always asking people, whenever you're going to a food drive, or your kids come home from school and say, "Our school's doing a food drive tomorrow," dig a little bit deeper.

And instead of that can of green beans, which we love, we'd really love a jar of peanut butter, 'cause it goes a lot further for our families.

What else can people do, besides volunteer, donate?

Is there anything else?

They can advocate for us.

They can advocate for the food bank.

They could advocate for the hungry people that live right here in our community.

These are people that your children go to school with.

The people that you interact with on a daily basis, again employed, they might be the people that are working at the stores that you are going to.

So just kind of get out there, really understand that this is an issue, it's an issue right here at home.

[Arlene] Big issue.

And maybe educate your neighbors, other family members, that this is really happening right here in our community, and there's ways that everybody can help.

Jamie Kendall, thank you so much for being here to encourage people to get out there and either help or advocate, donate.

Contact the PBC Food Bank to help those in need.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for having me.

Absolutely.

In Broward County, many seniors, especially grandparents raising grandchildren, are facing food insecurity.

Nationally, one in four grandparentheaded households struggle with hunger.

The Pantry of Broward is a critical resource, providing food and support to more than 600 seniors and 100 grand families each month.

For those who may not qualify for other assistance, the Pantry helps bridge the gap, offering emergency groceries and vital services.

Let's take a closer look at how the Pantry of Broward is fighting food insecurity, and changing lives right here in our community.

All right, so what we're gonna do here is we're gonna take these items right here and we're gonna put them in these boxes.

The Pantry of Broward is a nonprofit organization that focuses on serving seniors 60 years of age and older.

These seniors are living on the low fixed income, way below the poverty lines that are set forth by the government.

And we help them with a food box to offset their costs and their needs throughout the month.

The Pantry of Broward opened in 2008 by a philanthropist, BJ Buntrock.

She had volunteered at many food pantries in the community, and saw that this population needed to be handled in a different way.

They needed other services, they needed different types of attention.

And when she started the Pantry of Broward, it was that mission in mind.

They were people who worked their entire lives, but they had outlived their retirement.

These were folks that didn't expect that they were gonna need help.

These were people that thought, "I would be able to get by," and they weren't.

Did you get a chance to send those photos to the group of volunteers that were here?

We have the prepackaged boxes.

We have the prepackaged bags of fruits and vegetables, but we do have what we call farmer's market, and we allow the clients to come in and pick what they like.

You know, some don't like apples, some don't like this.

So we give them that opportunity.

A lot of them need help with phone bills, or electric bills, or water bills.

We also have a program where we do some minor repairs for them.

So it's a whole complete package of whatever we can do to help these people navigate through life.

I was going through a very hard time on a fixed income, and I needed some help.

I just didn't know how to go about it.

The Pantry not only helped me to feed myself, but after eight years of not being able to have a Thanksgiving with my grandchildren, or a Christmas with my grandchildren.

I was able to get gifts from my grandchildren that the pantry gave me.

And they also gave me the Thanksgiving dinner.

And this is a blessing not only for me, but for everybody that is my age and that needs the help.

This is a true blessing.

When we opened our doors and we started to serve the senior population, we noticed that Broward County, in particular, had this tremendous amount of senior citizens who were raising their grandchildren.

We affectionately refer to them as our grand families.

And these grand families are, again, seniors who maybe not be 60 years, sometimes they're in their 50s, or a little bit younger, but they have assumed either temporary or full custody of their grandchildren at a moment's notice.

And they too are gonna need the help.

These are grandparents that are struggling in their own right, and they wanna keep their grandchildren out of an already overburdened foster care system.

So they really, really are special individuals, because they're obviously grieving what's happening with their own child, but they recognize the need, and where they can step up and help in taking care of their grandchildren.

I've been coming here for 16 years.

They help my grandchildren, like with school supplies and stuff like that, Christmas.

I feel so happy when I come here.

I feel very happy.

Me and my family, we feel very happy.

It's been hard for me.

One thing I can say about the Pantry, they love all families.

They're such a wonderful people.

Wonderful.

So that's why I'm still here.

Our case managers on a daily basis are getting phone calls and trying to help our seniors through systems that sometimes are well far beyond food and food insecurities.

Particularly for our grand families.

We will sometimes get calls to help them navigate the school system, this day and age, having to log onto portals and websites and just to get the grades.

We've had seniors who are maybe trying to navigate something with a landlord, or a living situation.

And we'll step in and help in those situations.

If anything, you know about the senior population, it's about trust, it's about a relationship, and it's knowing that they can count on us to help them through anything they need, even if it's far beyond food.

We are a small organization, less than 10 fulltime people, but we have a robust volunteer force that, without them, undoubtedly, we would not be able to do what we do.

They come here daily, they work in our warehouses, they interact with our clients, they help us maintain that relationship, they help us maintain the storylines of what's happening in some of these clients' lives.

I had one group here the other day, and they have this one person, she's very sweet, and everything we do makes her cry, because she gets so emotional, and she says, "Oh my God, I feel like I'm doing something."

You know?

And most of them are just happy to help.

They feel like they're doing things, they feel like their life has a purpose.

You know, some of them are retired, most of them actually are retired, and they wanna feel like they're doing something with their lives, and they just feel very happy.

And especially the ones that work in the distribution area, they get to actually meet the clients, and they know the clients.

I have one volunteer here that's been here for longer than I've been, and she greets them and, "How are you today?

And how's everything?"

So there gets to be a comradery between the clients and the volunteers.

What's on the list for the boxes?

It's just been an incredibly overwhelming experience.

You get to see the people here that you're helping, you get to interact with the volunteers, the staff that works here.

It's a very tightknit community.

The clients that I have met and have interacted with, it's just been such a pleasant experience in terms of, you know, seeing them being so happy to receive, you know, some of the food and some of the help that we provide to them on a consistent basis.

We have an expression here, you know, "Food doesn't take a holiday, and people are hungry all year round."

We appreciate the need, and the fact that people come out during the holidays, and we get this overabundance of food and donations, but we need it all year round, because we have to give this food out all year round.

Same thing with the volunteers.

I get an influx of volunteers at this time of the year, but I try to accommodate as many of them as possible, 'cause I know people wanna feel needed and wanted.

This is not helping people from a distance.

This isn't helping people through another organization or through another charitable group.

We see our clients day in and day out.

We know them on a firstname basis.

We're familiar with their grandchildren.

We may be helping some of their grandchildren through school projects or through something with sports.

So they really do become a family.

You know, before I came here, I didn't know that there were that many people out there that were hungry.

I wasn't aware.

I worked in the nonprofit world, but not in this kind of capacity.

And it's just made a very, very big difference in how I look at things now.

This is absolutely a passion and a calling for all of us, and we find such value and such pride in being able to help anyone here in Broward County who could use our services.

Each year, millions of pounds of food are wasted, while many South Floridians face hunger.

That's where Food Rescue US, South Florida comes in.

This nonprofit is tackling both issues by rescuing access food from local businesses and delivering it directly to those in need throughout MiamiDade and Broward Counties.

Since its launch, Food Rescue US, South Florida has distributed millions of meals, and helped divert tons of food from landfills, making big impacts on both communities in need and the environment.

Alright, see donation right there.

A little smiley on there, that's for me.

Well, for me to deliver.

You see, there's all kinds of foods, dry goods, milk, eggs, meats, everything.

I can't think of anything that they don't give away.

It's pretty awesome.

Over 40% of all food is wasted, yet 1 in 10 go to bed hungry.

And what happens is, food that is wasted goes into the landfill, where it decomposes and produces methane gas, which is probably the most harmful greenhouse gas that can be produced, and is directly impacting our climate.

Food Rescue US, South Florida is a nonprofit.

We're based in MiamiDade County and Broward County.

And what we do is we rescue edible, unused, unsold food from area markets, grocers, hotels, restaurants, even large venues like stadiums, and we take it to underserved communities.

The food that we rescue, it's not expired, it's healthy, it's nutritious, and there actually is a federal law, called the Bill Emerson Law, that allows you to donate food, as long as it's in good faith, without any liability.

Now this is gonna be tough today.

I have a tower of beef here.

Where do I begin?

Let's do some of this right now, because I gotta lay down the foundation in the car of all the heavier stuff.

We use a webbased app technology.

It's through our parent headquarters, which is Food Rescue US.

When a food donor reaches out to us, if they have surplus food to donate, we actually post it onto the app what it is that they're donating, when they want it to be picked up.

Lots of information, including what size vehicle to use.

We match it with the closest receiving agency, because we think it's important that a food donor donates within their own community.

There's no warehouses, there's no trucks.

It goes from point A to point B, really within a half hour.

So it looks like my car's kind of small for all this amount of food, but I'm an expert packer.

You're about to find out.

A little nook and cranny here where I can put some more food.

Yep, the more the merrier.

Perfect.

At Food Rescue US, South Florida, we do over 75 rescues in a given week.

Today's rescue was one of our favorites.

It's a new donor, Sprout's Farmers Market, and we actually picked up there and then brought it to the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry, which is an amazing food pantry, and actually grocery bag distribution that goes out into the community of Coconut Grove.

Alright, I'll just bring this whole thing down.

Off we go.

Well, believe it or not, today was a light day, because I usually go up and down six to eight times.

We have a regular rescuer, Ana, who goes every single Tuesday.

She's actually what we call "adopted the rescue."

She shows up around 9:30 every morning, and she loads up her car and drives directly here, which is probably a fiveminute drive.

Okay, got that one.

I really had no idea the sheer amount, the large quantity of food that goes to waste if somebody doesn't pick it up and repurpose it and do something else with it.

It may have an expiration day, two days out from today, but you would buy it, and you would eat it in your own home.

And if it doesn't come here, and get distributed to all of these locations, it gets thrown away, which is just impossible for me to understand.

Straight to the freezer.

It's a very simple thing to do.

Connect point A with point B, you feed needy people.

And frankly, I consider that I'm the lucky one to be able to do it, because I have the free time now I'm retired, so I have the free time to be able to do this type of volunteer work and help out, and I'm the lucky one.

There you go.

Thank you.

The way that that that app is designed is super userfriendly, and the quality of the data that's inside of the app that they provide for each one of these pickups and dropoffs is really what makes it work so well.

You got that?

There's a certain type of fulfillment that you get from volunteering that you don't get from anything else.

The joy it gives you to be able to do something for somebody else, and see the happiness in somebody else's face, is something you can't buy.

There's plenty today, right?

I think that with our particular platform, we do encourage volunteers, and we make it easy for them.

As a result, we have over 1,400 people that are registered to be potential volunteers.

Here you go.

When they take it to the receiving agency, they're meeting the people that they're donating the food to, in some cases the actual recipients.

So it really gives a personal kind of experience to being a volunteer, rather than being in a warehouse, sorting or making phone calls.

We've been rescuing and delivering here to the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry now for about three years.

They run an amazing operation.

They not only do a food distribution every Tuesday, they have volunteers to go out and deliver right into the community.

They also make available a walkup window for homeless and houses that are looking for food.

This is our 40th year in operation.

We are located at Christ Episcopal Church in the Little Bahamas area of Coconut Grove, which is the oldest part of Miami.

We had a lot of the early settlers of Miami here in this area, and also the people who helped build Miami.

There is so much wealth in Coconut Grove, yet in parts of Coconut Grove, like Little Bahamas, the wealth is not as apparent.

And we have a lot of families, heritage families that live here, and many of them are our clients and our volunteers.

Every Tuesday we distribute groceries to about 230 households in Coconut Grove.

We have about 60 clients who walk up to our doors, and we distribute a bag of groceries from there, and the rest we deliver.

The people that walk up are our clients who live in the neighborhood, and many of them are unhoused.

They don't have shelter, so that we don't have a place to deliver to them.

We always make sure that every client gets protein, they get fresh produce, they get bakery items, they get breakfast items, and then other items, it depends on what we have in our inventory, but one of the most important parts of our distribution, that's the food that we get from food rescue.

And those donations are some of the favorites for our clients, because they are special things that they might not ordinarily have in their daily diet, or that they can go out and buy.

There are many, many neighborhoods that we never perceived as underserved.

This is a perfect example, Coconut Grove.

We know there's mansions on the water, we see these beautiful houses.

Yet there are these pockets within every community where there are people that are really under the radar, but they exist and they're hungry.

And food is a basic need.

And for them to be able to come here to the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry and get food is really critical.

And there are so many neighborhoods like this throughout MiamiDade and Broward County that, again, they're under the radar.

Yet if you drive through them or you walk through them, you really see the need, and you see the people that are trying to live respectfully and with some dignity, and that, you know, that makes what we do even more inspiring and rewarding.

I volunteer at the pantry, because this is my community, and I love it, love it so much living in Coconut Grove.

But I noticed I was passing people on the street within the same community, and it affected me.

And I've been working here for a few years now, and now I say hi to them on the streets, and now we're in the same community, and we take care of each other, and it's a very cool symbiotic relationship.

Thanks guys.

We all know what it's like to feel hungry.

It makes me feel really good to know that I can help take away even a drop of suffering or pain from absolutely anyone.

It makes me feel good, because when I started in 2015, we only had about 16 people.

Now we have 225 clients, and they are very appreciative, because, I'm one of the drivers, and when out on show up, they ask, "Where were you?"

So it's really hearttouching to me, and I've been blessed in other ways for helping here.

When I started this, I had really never volunteered before in my life.

And this has turned out to probably be the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life.

It's very inspiring to meet the people that are donating, to meet the volunteers, to meet the people that are getting the food.

We always do a holiday food distribution with toys, and one of my volunteers dresses up as Santa Claus, and you recognize that this is probably their only opportunity to really be in public, to be with Santa, and to get a toy.

So it's really, it's heartwarming and inspiring, and it's really one of the reasons why I continue to do this.

It's hard work, but it's so rewarding every single day.

For more on food insecurity and local food banks, follow us on Facebook at YourSouthFL.

And for more community stories, visit SouthFloridaPBS.org/YSF.

I'm Arlene Borenstein.

Happy holidays, and thank you for watching.