Thousands of Pounds of Food Donated Monthly to Community Through New Partnership

Many economically disadvantaged Central Florida families often face an impossible choice: either food or shelter.

In fact, according to a recent study, 70 percent of area households said they had to choose between buying food or paying their mortgage or rent at least once during the previous year.

Many of those families rely on Second Harvest Food Banks local network of feeding partners to get the food they need to survive.

And now, AdventHealth is launching an initiative that will give thousands of pounds of food to the community each month through a partnership with Second Harvest.

From pot roast to bread to chicken, AdventHealth prepares thousands of meals daily for patients, visitors and employees who eat at campus cafeterias. Now, extra food is carefully packaged and stored for donation to Second Harvest, which in turn donates the fresh food to area soup kitchens and other organizations through its Second Helpings program.

AdventHealth recently launched the program at its Orlando campus, and will eventually extend it to all its hospitals in Central Florida. An average of 1,500 pounds has been donated monthly to Second Harvest from the Orlando campus alone.

Lack of access to healthy foods is a significant challenge in Central Florida. This has major impacts on the overall health of our community, as good nutrition is a key to good health, said Daryl Tol, president and CEO of AdventHealth and the Central Florida Division Adventist Health System. AdventHealth is honored to partner with the Second Harvest Food Bank and help bring much-needed food to those who need it most.

One in six Central Floridians turns to charitable food assistance programs that are part of the local Second Harvest Food Bank network each year. On average, that's nearly 500,000 low-income people who seek help with food more than 71,000 times per week.

They are working poor families, seniors, children, veterans, homeless and others. To make their struggles even more serious, these populations face a disproportionately high rate of preventable, food-related health challenges.

According to Second Harvests Faces of Hunger report:

• 27 percent of Central Florida households have at least one member with diabetes
• 53 percent have a member with high blood pressure
• 51 percent have members who are uninsured

When you consider the sheer numbers of people who are facing food insecurity, its not hard to see the potential impact that accesses to healthy food can have on overall community health, said Dave Krepcho, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank. In fact, food and nutrition are one of the relatively few things that actually could be a game-changer when it comes to prevention and effective management of disease.

About AdventHealth:

Founded in 1908 by pioneering Seventh-day Adventists who believed in whole-person health healing the body, mind and spirit AdventHealth has grown into one of the largest nonprofit hospitals in the country, caring for more than two million patient visits per year. It is a member of Adventist Health System, which operates 45 hospitals in nine states, making it one of the largest faith-based health care systems in the United States. There are 26 AdventHealth locations throughout the state. In greater Orlando, AdventHealth serves both as a community hospital and as a major tertiary referral hospital for the region, much of the Southeast, the Caribbean and Latin America. AdventHealth provides a range of health services, including many nationally and internationally recognized programs in cardiology, cancer, women’s medicine, neurosciences, diabetes, orthopedics, pediatrics, transplant and advanced surgical programs.

About Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida:

SHFBCF is a member of Feeding America the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. SHFBCF secures and distributes food and grocery products to approximately 550 local nonprofit feeding programs throughout Central Florida. Last year, with the help of food and financial donors, volunteers and a caring, committed community, the food bank distributed 52 million meals to partner programs such as food pantries, soup kitchens, women’s shelters, senior centers, day care centers and Kids Cafes. In addition, Second Harvests 14-week culinary program teaches foodservice-based technical, life and employability skills to economically hard-pressed adults. Our community turns to Second Harvests partner agencies more than 71,000 times per week. To learn more about SHFBCF, visit www.FeedHopeNow.org.

For media inquiries only, call AdventHealth Corporate Communications at Call407-303-8217.

www.adventhealth.com/business/adventhealth-corporate-communications