COCONUT GROVE, Fla. \u2014 In Florida, nearly one million people face hunger and don\u2019t know where their next meal will be coming from, and of that number, approximately 500,000 are kids and seniors. <\/p>\n
With its upscale homes and historic bayfront setting, it\u2019s easy to overlook the plight of hunger in this community, but the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry stands as a reminder that the need is real and ongoing.<\/p>\n
Many special services take place at Christ Episcopal Church, and they extend beyond Sunday. <\/p>\n
Every Monday and Tuesday, the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry is there serving the most needy and vulnerable in the 33133 zip code.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pantry has been here since 1984, so 42 years, and it was started by parishioners here at Christ Episcopal Church,\u201d said director of outreach Deb Dolson. <\/p>\n
Parnice Lee\u2019s mom, Fredericka Simmons Brown, was one of the founding members.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was 94 years old and still working every Tuesday with the Pantry,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Lee, who grew up in west Coconut Grove, has continued the tradition, giving her time for the past 13 years. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have to come whether it\u2019s raining or not because she would always tell me come serve the Lord,\u201d said Lee. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s one of 50 volunteers who show up faithfully every week to receive deliveries and then meticulously sort and pack the grocery bags, labeling some with the names and special needs of family members. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe send out about 235 bags of groceries every week,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Roughly 80% are delivered to nearby homes while the rest are picked up at the pantry.<\/p>\n
The pantry had one of their prayers answered this week when, as part of Local 10\u2019s annual Food for Thought program, Publix donated volunteer hours and hundreds of pounds of food. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing part of Food for Thought program is so important to us at Publix, because we get a chance to bring a light to organizations that mean so much to these communities, and Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry is a great example of that,\u201d said Publix Media Relations Manager Lindsey Willis. <\/p>\n
And as long as the people of the 33133 need it, the pantry at the pink church will provide it. <\/p>\n
To date, the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry has distributed more than 8,000 bags of groceries. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re also good citizens of the Earth, composting more than three tons of organic material.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit relies on private donations to keep its doors open.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COCONUT GROVE, Fla. \u2014 In Florida, nearly one million people face hunger and don\u2019t know where their next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-404705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404705","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=404705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}