JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax and Feeding Northeast Florida are teaming up to help families in need keep food on their tables ahead of Thanksgiving.
We’re calling it Action News Jaxgiving.
The demand for food at the food bank surged during the government shutdown. Even with the shutdown over, FNEFL doesn’t expect to see that demand decrease.
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“The need has doubled if not tripled,” said Katie Criscitello, Vice President of Operations at Feeding Northeast Florida. “Our neighbors are in need more than ever.”
Feeding Northeast Florida serves more than 310,000 people in need of food assistance across 12 counties. Workers say 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 5 children are hungry.
Criscitello says the government shutdown only added to the number of people in need.
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“We’ve ordered close to $500,000 worth of food to try to help our neighbors,” said Criscitello.
“In the last two weeks, we’ve distributed more than 1.1 million pounds of food,” said Sarah Hall, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for FNEFL.
In order to meet the demand, Hall said Feeding Northeast Florida had to get creative.
“We’ve had to pivot our operations,” said Hall. “We’ve had to purchase more food, and we’ve had to change all of our volunteers’ activities too to try to meet the demand that we’re seeing in the community.”
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“The government shutdown is over, but the crisis has really just begun,” said Criscitello.
If you would like to provide a monetary donation to Feeding Northeast Florida, click here.
This campaign will run through Thanksgiving.
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