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<\/p>\nIn 2019, the region\u2019s largest food bank set an ambitious but seemingly reasonable goal: a hunger-free Tampa Bay by 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt it was really important to plant a flag in the ground,\u201d said Thomas Mantz, president and CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
The organization estimated it would need to serve 115 million meals a year \u2013 roughly doubling its output at the time. It would expand its distribution system, open new food pantries and partner with more community organizations. Last fiscal year, it was nearly there, serving more than 100 million meals.<\/p>\n
By all accounts, the nonprofit successfully scaled up its operation. But lines for food only grew.<\/p>\n
As 2025 comes to a close, leaders at Feeding Tampa Bay say the need has multiplied beyond what any of themanticipated.<\/p>\n
After a pandemic and federal threats to the nation\u2019s social safety net, serving an increasingly needy population has gotten more complex with philanthropy alone.<\/p>\n
Setting the goal<\/p>\n
In years past, Feeding Tampa Bay focused on fighting the stigma of food insecurity and spreading awareness.<\/p>\n
But hunger, locally, felt solvable.<\/p>\n
The 115 million-meal goal was based on how many people in need would live in the 10-county coverage area, multiplied by the average number of meals they\u2019d need the food bank to provide.<\/p>\n
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It felt like an important and attainable promise to make to the community, saidJayci Peters, the organization\u2019schief experience officer. They planned to collect more food donations and expand the network of community partners to distribute them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, it really was a volume and numbers game,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n
But then came the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Feeding Tampa Bay\u2019s clientele more than doubled when public life shut down. Since then, it has remained about 30% higher than before the health crisis, even after businesses reopened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it further cemented the idea that people are one missed paycheck away,\u201d Peters said. \u201cOne crisis can really send somebody down a spiral of challenge that is hard to recover from.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the next few years, inflation in Tampa Bay led the nation<\/a>, driven by high housing costs. Prices jumped 11% in 2022. Wages didn\u2019t keep up.<\/p>\n There was also a jump in the number of people who make enough to exceedfederal poverty standards but still struggle with everyday expenses<\/a>.They represent many of Feeding Tampa Bay\u2019s clients, the group said. In 2023, nearly 20,000 more people in Hillsborough County were in that boat than four years before.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re measuring this now, and we\u2019re seeing it as an increase in meals to the community, but we\u2019re not seeing a corresponding change in community need,\u201d said Mantz.<\/p>\n This year, cuts to federal social safety net programs \u2013 including tofunding for Medicaid and the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program \u2013 threaten family budgets even more. Grocery lists are often the first to take a hit.<\/p>\n
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