Summer Feeding Program

Catholic Charities of Lee County partners with other agencies to feed families

 

Fort Myers—Catholic Charities of Lee County is partnering with other community agencies in a special eight-week program during July and August called the Summer Feeding Program.

 

“Fort Myers is ‘Ground Zero’ for the construction and real estate industries and the loss of employment. We are seeing families asking for help that never needed assistance before,” said Christine Nolan, Director of Catholic Charities of Lee County. “This partnership shows an ethic of caring and that the community cares about a population that has no voice or advocacy.”

 

Nolan said most of the people coming to the program are young, two-parent families who recently lost jobs.

 

The Summer Feeding Program offers several hundred families registered through their children’s elementary school an opportunity to come down to the school once a week and receive several days of food stocks from a mobile pantry and a hot lunch. Along with Catholic Charities, the United Way, Salvation Army, Harry Chapin Food Bank, Community Cooperative Ministries Inc., Orange River Elementary School and Bonita Springs Elementary School work together to offer the program.

 

“We have families that are going hungry that were never hungry before,” said Iris Figueroa, a Catholic Charities Caseworker that participates in the Summer Feeding Program. “Many families count on the school to feed their children. This summer families have cut back on day care or summer camps, so children often are going without all their proper meals.”

 

When families come to the elementary school for the Summer Feeding Program, Figueroa talks with them to offer additional assistance through Catholic Charities programs. “We can bridge them to solutions to help them to become more self-sufficient,” Figueroa said. “If they are coming for basic necessities like food, then they usually need further support,” she said.

 

For more information about the Summer Feeding Program, contact Catholic Charities of Lee County at 239-337-4193.

 

Photo #1: Arnaldo Reyes, seven-years-old, and his sister Liseth Reyes, four-years-old, attend the Summer Feeding Program with their mother.

 

Photo #2: Community Cooperative Ministries Volunteer Beth Gaultieri (right) helps a family load their basket with food stocks at the Summer Feeding Program.