Frank and Gloria did everything right. They took their finances seriously\u2014saved money, earned an education, and put their kids through school. But now, retired from their careers as teachers, they find themselves struggling to stretch their income to the end of every month. And they\u2019re not the only ones.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll find people like Frank and Gloria in lines at food banks across Central Florida. Retirees. Parents with full-time jobs. Folks who worked hard and earned enough to make ends meet\u2014or used to. Now their income isn\u2019t keeping pace with the cost of living, and they have to decide which necessities they can survive without \u2026 which bills they can afford not to pay \u2026 and what meals they can skip to make up the difference.<\/p>\n
As 2026 gets underway, hunger in Central Florida is in a worse state than it was a year ago. More people are missing meals. Prices are still increasing, as tariffs drive up the retail cost of clothing, groceries and other essentials. The cost of health insurance is going up\u2014and while the House is passing an extension of subsidies to soften the blow, it will take time to go into effect.<\/p>\n
For families who already need help, it\u2019s become that much harder to find food assistance. While many of the SNAP benefits that were revoked last year have been restored, it will take time for families to re-certify. At the same time, the increase in senior work requirements will leave many retired Central Floridians\u2014 including family caregivers and those living with health issues\u2014 without access to benefits.<\/p>\n
At nonprofits like Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, we are working hard to narrow the gap. Second Harvest\u2019s network currently distributes enough food for 330,000 meals a day, and we have the capacity to expand our services to meet the growing need. But we can only distribute as much food as we can source, and we rely heavily on the support of volunteers and donors.<\/p>\n
But the real challenge\u2014 and one we\u2019ll need to learn to live with\u2014is that we don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming next. The past year of shifting priorities in funding and policy for hunger relief has proven that unpredictability is the only constant. We can\u2019t count on having the same options tomorrow as we do today. All we can do is continue to pursue our mission, day by day, using what resources we have.<\/p>\n
As grim as that sounds, it\u2019s worth it\u2014because we are making a difference. We\u2019re making sure neighbors like Frank and Gloria can bring home groceries. We\u2019re expanding service for our meal delivery program for seniors and disabled Central Floridians. We\u2019re partnering with over 80 schools\u2014and counting\u2014through our School Markets program, so all kids can have fresh, nutritious meals at school and at home.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll continue fighting hunger and feeding hope in 2026, but we can\u2019t do it alone. Hunger is with us 365 days a year. The need for volunteer support is at its highest right now. If you can lend a hand, please do\u2014and don\u2019t wait. Learn more about our mission and volunteer opportunities at www. feedhopenow.org\/get-involved.<\/p>\n
Derrick Chubbs is President and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, the region\u2019s largest emergency food provider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frank and Gloria did everything right. They took their finances seriously\u2014saved money, earned an education, and put their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-169758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}