Hunger is Rising - But So Is Hope
- lssofnefl
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
Walking into the on-site food pantry at Lutheran Social Services last week, I noticed something troubling: our shelves looked bare. The crates that usually overflowed with donations had room to spare. At first, I wondered—was it just the end of the week? Were we waiting on our next shipment to come in? Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Funding cuts to the USDA means that food pantries like ours are receiving significantly less resources than before. Still, through donations and pulling strings from anywhere we can, we are doing our best to feed the 1,500+ families that visit us monthly.
“In over a decade, we have never seen our pantry shelves look this bare,” Ronnie Wilson, LSS pantry manager, said that day.
Then, we turned to our community. And the community stepped up! The local news helped us share our plight and within hours, people started dropping off food donations, picking up collection barrels for food drives, and making monetary donations to help us buy in bulk. We were able to serve every family that came to us for help that week, and we ended the week with full shelves.
It won’t last long, and now that we are into November with the fate of SNAP still up in the air, we are bracing for an even greater surge in demand. Nearly 66,000 households in Duval County rely on SNAP benefits. Many of them will be turning to us in the coming weeks—right as we enter the busy holiday season.
Need is rising, and resources are scarce. But with your help, we can continue to make a difference and put food on our neighbors’ tables, as we have done for the past 46 years.
You can help today by donating nonperishable food items or by making a monetary gift that allows us to purchase food in bulk. Additionally, you can host food drives to reach more members of our community and gather as much food as we can.
Our most needed items include canned meats, peanut butter, soup, rice, beans, cereal, and pasta.
Donation drop off at:
Lutheran Social Services
4615 Philips Highway, Jacksonville, FL 32207
Hours: Monday - Thursday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. | Friday, 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Collection barrels and pick-up are available for large food donations.
Online donations may be made at www.lssjax.org/donate.
Now is the best time to donate. Up until November 15th, every dollar donated will be doubled up to $10,000 to help local families enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.
In these challenging times, let’s come together to support our neighbors and ensure that no one in our community goes hungry.
If you or someone you know is in need of food assistance, please sign up for a pantry appointment at https://www.lssjax.org/pantry . We are here for you.
To learn more about the effects of the government shutdown, visit here.