{"id":243647,"date":"2026-04-23T19:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243647\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T19:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:09:07","slug":"house-of-hope-fights-the-food-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243647\/","title":{"rendered":"House of Hope Fights the Food Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RobRob Ranieri at a House of Hope food pantry. Photo courtesy of House of Hope<\/p>\n

In a state that generated over $11 billion in farm sales last year, it\u2019s hard to imagine that local families do not have enough to eat. But Rob Ranieri, CEO at Stuart\u2019s House of Hope<\/a>, says food insecurity affects everyone. \u201cOur clients are children, seniors, single-parent households, kids aging out of foster care; we run the gamut.\u201d Ranieri has been at the helm of the nonprofit for over a decade, launching programs to feed families and empower them to succeed. It is a role he seems born into, but one that came to him serendipitously.<\/p>\n

Ranieri first joined House of Hope as a volunteer, helping then-CEO Elizabeth Barbella get Martin County\u2019s permission to use a county-owned building. \u201cDuring that process, she called me, told me she was leaving, and said she told the board to hire me. I just laughed,\u201d recalls Ranieri. But Barbella was serious and so was the board. \u201cThey painted a picture of where they were and where they wanted to be,\u201d he says. \u201cThe more I learned, the more I felt like I had a lot of what was needed to get to the next level.\u201d And just like that, Ranieri went from volunteer to CEO.<\/p>\n

Under Ranieri\u2019s leadership, House of Hope opened the Golden Gate Center for Enrichment, which now offers no-cost classes and workshops focusing on education, career readiness, health, nutrition, arts, and culture. The House of Hope office in Stuart was also expanded, adding a commercial kitchen and more space to the food pantry \u201cThose were big springboards to focusing not just on feeding people, but feeding them well,\u201d says Ranieri. \u201cWe were able to make sandwiches and salads and get them out to people experiencing homelessness. We started a food reclamation program, getting food from area restaurants and caterers.\u201d In 2019, Ranieri took another big step when House of Hope built a hydroponic farm in Palm City to grow fresh produce.<\/p>\n

\"AA volunteer checks on hydroponically grown lettuce. Photo courtesy of House of Hope<\/p>\n

Today, House of Hope has a food distribution network of 35 agencies in Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, and Palm Beach counties. Through partner agencies and food pantries, House of Hope put 1.67 million pounds of food into the hands of families in need last year and helped over 40,000 individuals through its programs.<\/p>\n

Ranieri has had an impressive decade, but he\u2019s not slowing down. House of Hope recently won an Impact 100 grant to purchase equipment to freeze-dry, dehydrate, and package food. \u201cThis lets us create healthy snacks with tremendous shelf life and minimize food waste,\u201d he says. House of Hope received a recent donation of land in Palm City on which they hope to build a 15,000-square-foot building dedicated to housing and distributing food.<\/p>\n

While House of Hope has grown rapidly under Ranieri\u2019s leadership, he points to the efforts of his staff members and volunteers. \u201cThey are incredibly committed,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s their knowledge and understanding that helps us to be creative problem-solvers and come up with interesting ways to tackle these issues in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PackagedPackaged salads grown at Growing Hope Farm in Palm City. Photo courtesy of House of HopeHunger by the Numbers<\/p>\n

1.67 Million\u00a0pounds of food distributed through House of Hope\u2019s four pantries and 30 food bank partners in 2025. More than 600,000 pounds of that food was fresh produce.<\/p>\n

27,777\u00a0pantry services accessed last year through House of Hope pantries in Stuart, Hobe Sound, Indiantown, and Jensen Beach.<\/p>\n

26,326\u00a0individuals supported each month through House of Hope\u2019s 30 food bank partners in Martin, St. Lucie, and Okeechobee counties.<\/p>\n

100,000\u00a0cubic feet of hydroponic growing space at Growing Hope Farm (four greenhouses, a freight farm, two orchards, and an in-ground growing area).<\/p>\n

18,918\u00a0packages of fresh produce that were rinsed, bagged, and distributed from the state-of-the-art\u00a0packing house facility at Growing Hope Farm.<\/p>\n

12%\u00a0Martin County\u2019s poverty rate. 17 percent of children under 18 are living in poverty. Another 32 percent of all households are employed with limited assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rob Ranieri at a House of Hope food pantry. Photo courtesy of House of Hope In a state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-243647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243647","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=243647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}