{"id":367891,"date":"2026-08-10T23:34:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T23:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367891\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T23:34:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T23:34:58","slug":"new-food-pantry-opens-in-lealman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367891\/","title":{"rendered":"New food pantry opens in Lealman"},"content":{"rendered":"

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Alex Hogue works at a thrift shop and says she knows the value of a dollar.<\/p>\n

“It’s been really hard, because not everyone in our household works, and we also have to pay for food which has skyrocketed recently, so it’s been pretty bad,” said Hogue.<\/p>\n

Watch report from Casey Albritton<\/p>\n

Lealman residents may soon have more access to healthy food<\/p>\n

As grocery prices, rent and utility costs have increased, she said many people she knows have struggled to keep up.<\/p>\n

“It’s really difficult because there’s a lot of homelessness around this area\u2026and the income in this area is really low in comparison to food prices,” said Hogue.<\/p>\n

She said other than regular grocery stores, food pantries are limited.<\/p>\n

“I hope even more food pantries open so that we have even more access to it,” said Hogue.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Yeagley is the CEO of St. Petersburg Free Clinic and said the organization is expanding its reach to Lealman.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s opening an appointment-based food pantry located at the Jared S. Hetchkopf Community Food Bank.<\/p>\n

“69% of our neighbors in the Lealman area are living in poverty or living in the ALICE population: Asset limited, income constrained, employed. That means folks are working but their paychecks aren\u2019t stretching far enough to afford the basics,” said Yeagley.<\/p>\n

Organization leaders said there is a huge need for food pantries here in the Lealman and Kenneth City areas.<\/p>\n

\"Organization<\/p>\n

WFTS<\/p>\n

“As utility costs go up, that\u2019s going to squeeze family budgets elsewhere,” said Yeagley.<\/p>\n

The pantry will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and organizers said eventually the location will also offer healthcare and transportation services.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019ll make a huge difference, because again, the income that people get comparison to how much food is, is very drastic, so it\u2019ll definitely be very helpful for families that are low income,” said Hogue.<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Casey

Casey Albritton is dedicated to telling your stories throughout South Pinellas County. From St. Petersburg to Largo, she\u2019s there to share the triumphs and struggles of the community she calls home. So, let Casey know about the stories that matter to you.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Catching Rays with Victor Mesa Jr.<\/p>\n

Sports anchor Kyle Burger and Victor Mesa Jr. had \u201cCatching Rays\u201d conversation about Mesa Jr.\u2019s Cuban roots, his famous father, and how he brings the good vibes to the Rays clubhouse.<\/p>\n

Catching Rays with Victor Mesa Jr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Alex Hogue works at a thrift shop and says she knows the value of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[22461,7894,575,12440,77423,596,107032,202,19380,204,203,199,201,200,5910,3670],"class_list":["post-367891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-access","tag-bank","tag-food","tag-food-pantry","tag-lealman","tag-pinellas-county","tag-pinellas-news","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-free-clinic","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367891","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=367891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}