Second Harvest of the Big Bend distributed about 20 tons of food at Tallahassee's Godby High School on Saturday (May 19.)
Executive Director Rick Minor blamed the recent closing of two supermarkets in Northwest Tallahassee for leaving thousands of residents with no nearby source of healthy foods.
"With the closure of those two Winn-Dixie stores, it's only going to get worse," Minor predicted. We've got to band together as a community and work with our elected officials to solve these food desert problems that we have, because right now we're moving in the wrong direction. We need to move forward."
Minor called Saturday's Mobile Pantry operation the largest in the local food bank's history. Partnering with Second Harvest of the Big Bend on the distribution was the Truth Gatherers Dream Center Church, where Joseph Davis is the pastor.
"We need to have another conversation about how to really serve these communities," Davis said, agreeing with Minor's assessment. "That's what we're really looking for and we believe another grocery store and other resources to come in and empower communities such as this one is what's needed."
