On behalf of Bread of the Mighty Food Bank and the people of our community, I thank you for supporting the food bank by publicizing the need for emergency food supplies during the holiday season.
As we entered the holidays, the shelves of the food bank were nearly empty. A public appeal requesting help resulted in an outpouring from the Gainesville and University of Florida communities.
We had a vision to distribute 300 food boxes at Thanksgiving and 250 food boxes for the Christmas holiday. Through the community's generosity, we were able to distribute 390 food boxes at Thanksgiving and another 299 boxes in the week preceding Christmas.
To give you an idea of the response from the university community alone, a total of at least 30 food drives were conducted resulting in over 11,000 pounds of food and $1,200 in donations. Again, thanks to you, the Alligator, and to the University of Florida community for your response to the need.
