JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Farm Share partnered with city leaders to host two food drives Saturday. In total, nearly 30,000 pounds of food was distributed to hundreds of Jacksonville families.
At Duval Charter School off 103rd Street, cars packed into two lines for a drive-thru food giveaway. A second event was hosted at Paxon Revival Center Church.
“You understand how people are hurting in this community with this pandemic,” City Councilman Ron Salem said. “We had seven or eight council members here, which is also heartwarming to see us all working together -- just putting the food in people’s cars. It was great.”
Farm Share Jacksonville serves 11 counties throughout northeast and central Florida.
“I’ve been doing these for almost 100 days and the lines are just as long now as they were when we started,” said state Rep. Wyman Duggan. “You see all manners of cars, from high-end to low-end, all manners of people, the need is obviously real, and it continues.”
Farm Share distribution coordinator Leighsha Johnson said the need has only grown as the pandemic has dragged on.
“So we are all over Jacksonville trying to hit different areas on the same day,” Johnson said. “Normally during the pandemic, we were in one spot in Jacksonville, the next day we were in Gainesville; but now we are all over on the same day.”
Johnson said it’s been a challenge to keep up.
“What we do is have events on a constant basis,” Johnson. “I am pretty much working six days a week, having events almost every day to help feed that need.”
The next giveaway will be at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at Middleburg American Legion Post 250.
There will be another event Saturday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.
Both drives will last until food runs out.
For more information go to farmshare.org.