Drop off unused food to the Soup Kitchen
As Southwest Florida’s seasonal residents prepare to head back north, local soup kitchens and food pantries are pleading they do not throw away even a can of unused food.
“With an unemployment rate of 12 percent and foreclosure rates the highest in the nation, we are seeing an increased need to feed the new hungry everyday,” said Sarah Owen, CEO of Community Cooperative Ministries Inc., which runs the Soup Kitchen in Fort Myers.
In 2008, CCMI prepared and delivered 136,243 meals through its on-site Soup Kitchen and Meals on Wheels program. Total food consumption for 2008 was 133,048 pounds of food, 45 percent of which was given out as emergency food from the Soup Kitchen Pantry to those in need.
Non-perishable food donations can be made daily to the Soup Kitchen located at 3429 Martin Luther King Blvd. Fort Myers., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A “wish list” of items requested include cornbread mix, cereal, peanut butter, packaged cookies and snacks, jelly, flavored rice bags and pasta, spaghetti and sauce, macaroni and cheese, hand-held can openers, Ramen noodles, Ziploc sandwich bags, Vienna sausages, Spam, canned meats, pop-top cans of vegetables, chili, meats and fruit, as well as non-food items including diapers, bug spray, sub block and travel size toiletries.
Iona Hope’s Thrift store located at 15660 San Carlos Blvd., Unit 29A, in the Gulf Pointe Shopping Center in South Fort Myers, has also come forward as a drop off point for seasonal residents who want to donate food prior to leaving. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday Saturday.