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Second Harvest of the Big Bend is expanding its outreach to food insecure seniors

In the wake of the COVID pandemic, more seniors in Second Harvest's North Florida serving area simply don't have enough to eat.
Tom Flanigan
In the wake of the COVID pandemic, more seniors in Second Harvest's North Florida serving area simply don't have enough to eat.

In the wake of the pandemic, many more seniors in North Florida are food insecure. Now Second Harvest of the Big Bend is looking to add them to the regional food band's service list.
Second Harvest CEO Monique Ellsworth said the Commodity Supplement Food Program now serves about 1,400 seniors in Tallahassee and surrounding counties. She insisted the program can easily take on more. It's just a matter of finding them.

"For this particular program, that's largely our church partners and senior centers throughout our service area. They can reach out to those neighbors they know best."

And Ellsworth is hoping they'll suggest lots of new folks to receive the free food.

"Give us a call, or email me personally. You can go to our website. And that's what we're looking for, people in the community that will raise their hand and say they want to step up and serve."

Although this particular program is run by the Florida Department of Agriculture, Ellsworth said Second Harvest is in charge of overseeing the free food distribution in its 9-county region.

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Tom Flanigan has been with WFSU News since 2006, focusing on covering local personalities, issues, and organizations. He began his broadcast career more than 30 years before that and covered news for several radio stations in Florida, Texas, and his home state of Maryland.

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