MARCO ISLAND
Seniors in need are coming together once a month for a free lunch thanks to Our Daily Bread, a longtime partner agency of the Harry Chapin Food Bank.
Every day Our Daily Bread on Marco Island provides healthy and delicious meals to people in need.
Harry Chapin Food Bank. CREDIT: WINK News
WINK News spoke with volunteer Bob Chrystal about the agency.
“On Saturdays, we have canned foods, we get cleaning supplies, we get meat, good dairy products, eggs, fully by the eggs. And we also get a lot of produce,” Chrystal said.
Monthly the nonprofit agency feeds 16,000 people from its permanent and mobile food pantries. Jennifer Reilly is just one example of the people Our Daily Bread is helping. Her husband passed away in October, so Our Daily Bread’s monthly event, “Lunch with Friends,” is important to her. It gives Reilly the chance to come together with friends and enjoy a good meal.
“I come here every month. It was my one chance to get away and have a free lunch, which is beautiful. Because now I’m on my own,” Reilly said.
Seniors eating at the Our Daily Bread event. CREDIT: WINK News
This just shows how vital the mobile food pantry is.
“They are a blessing on with the price of food today,” Reilly said. “I’m having a little struggle now. But the people are wonderful people help you here.”
Reilly and others like her are why Our Daily Bread executive director Amanda Nelson does what she does.
“The folks that we’re feeding are oftentimes the working poor. They’re the people who are cutting our lawns,” Nelson said.
But Our Daily Bread doesn’t do it alone. Their ability to provide is thanks to help from the Harry Chapin Food Bank.
“They’re our partner they give us food. And we also buy a small amount of our food from them. But they’re our feeding arm to talk about just how crucial that partnership is,” Nelson said.
Because both nonprofits share the same goal, making sure nobody goes hungry.
WINK NEWS