Food costs soar by $963K during pandemic for Harry Chapin to feed SWFL’s hungry

The pandemic has had a dramatic effect on how the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida operates.

Because of the pandemic, more people are in need of food, and that’s why WINK is teaming up with Harry Chapin this month for the “March to a Million Meals“.

Before the pandemic, most of its food was rescued, and the food bank was spending $37,000 a month purchasing the remaining food to feed hungry people.

Now, they are spending $1 million a month to meet the need in Southwest Florida.

Barbara Evans, development director at Harry Chapin Food Bank, said, “We were once an operation that relied primarily on rescue food and we would spend very little on purchase food. But now we’ve moved to having to purchase more food simply because when there’s an issue with the supply chain, and issues with being able to rescue the millions of pounds of food we need to feed these people.”

So to help Harry Chapin provide families in Southwest Florida with healthy food, WINK News is trying to raise $400,000, and we need your help!

Just go to WINKFeedsFamilies.com.