GOLDEN GATE
Getting food to seniors and ensuring they don’t go hungry is what St. Matthews House did at the Golden Gate Senior Center on Friday.
There is a great need in the area, and the non-profit is teaming up with the Harry Chapin Food Bank to provide seniors with the food they need.
WINK News spoke to a woman while she was in line for food. She said she’s grateful for it and depends on food distribution. What made Friday’s event different from the rest? It was for seniors only.
Just miles from the wealth of Naples, Golden Gate is a pocket of poverty where the need for food is never-ending.
“We’re seeing an increase in need, especially for our seniors that are on a fixed income. The numbers have just been really going up this year,” said Liz McCoy-Ferreira, a community outreach specialist with St. Matthew’s House.
Inflation has sent the price of almost everything through the roof. Every month, St. Matthews House partners with Harry Chapin Food Bank to distribute food to seniors 62 and older at the Golden Gate Senior Center.
“Seniors that we have walking up to this distribution that don’t have vehicles, and they’re taking the bus to get here. So we try to support them as best we can,” said McCoy-Ferreira.
Among the regulars is Juany Delgado. “Oh, anything helps. ”
She said anything helps because the situation is not easy, and food like this helps everyone. Delgado said she couldn’t afford to miss these monthly boosts. “This helps me.”
Delgado said she doesn’t have to go to the grocery store with her limited money. Whatever she gets at the distribution, she doesn’t have to buy.
Distributions like these take the pressure off people living on fixed incomes. Something Mark Davis is eternally grateful for.
“The community… A lot of them are going hungry. And thank God they’re here, you know. Anybody that can help out, it does help the community a lot. You know, chip in and do what you can. It’s for real,” Davis said.
In addition to getting much-needed support from Harry Chapin Food Bank, St. Matthew’s House also depends on people to help stock its pantry.
The need is great right now. They’re down from a 12-week to just a 2-week supply of food.
HOW TO HELP:
Help us raise $450,000 to put a million meals on the tables of hungry families in Southwest Florida.
You can donate by visiting our March to a Million Meals donation page.
WINK NEWS