Eight hundred families are receiving locally grown food for Thanksgiving through a partnership between a part of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and a local organization.
The UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center, in collaboration with Feeding the Gulf Coast, will be giving Thanksgiving meals to families who pre-qualified at local food banks in Escambia and Santa Rosa County today until Friday as part of National Farm to City Week.
Robin Vickers, an administrative support assistant for the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center, said the event is a way to educate the community on the importance of locally grown crops.
“I want people to understand you don’t just go get your food from Walmart,” Vickers said. “They need to understand where their food comes from and the importance of agriculture and our local farmers.”
The center will provide about 16,000 pounds of collards, cabbage and grits. Feeding the Gulf Coast, an organization that works to feed families, will donate 31,908.5 pounds of turkey or ham, fixings and pastry boxes, she said. Local farmers are donating 4,500 pounds of sweet potatoes.
Students studying agriculture from eight high schools in both counties helped harvest the cabbage and collards donated by the center, she said. During that time, they learn how to correctly cut, produce, wash and prepare food for trucks, Vickers said.
Wesley Wood, the center director of the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center, said the opportunity gives the students a chance to get first hand experience.
“When students come out and help us, they get some awareness about what it takes to provide food to people,” he said.
Vickers said it has been rewarding to watch the program grow over the past six years.
In its first year in 2010, the program fed 200 families.
“Our student participation has grown, and our community involvement has increased with sponsorship,” Vickers said.
