About Us
About Us
The mission at Food For Thought Outreach is to bridge the meal gap in the lives of food insecure children and empower them to get the most out of their education. We know that students coming school after missing multiple meals do not learn or develop at the same rate of their peers and the goal at FFT is to provide year around services to take students from K-12 without the fear, stress and illness related to childhood hunger.
Established in 2010, Food For Thought Outreach started as a small family project to serve food insecure students in one school for one year. With a $300 budget, Founder Tiffanie Nelson partnered with her son’s school to begin providing critical access to food to children in need. Over the past eleven years, Food For Thought has grown into the go-to organization for fighting childhood hunger in Walton and Okaloosa Counties. The organization has grown to meet the ever-changing needs of the community and current provides weekly access to food to 3,600 food insecure school aged children across 35 school locations.
Mission
Our mission is to remove the negative impacts of hunger, and empower a child to get the most out of their education and development by providing them weekly access to healthy, easy to prepare meals.
Values
Foster respect. We offer our services to every student on a free or reduced meal plan in the schools we serve. We also maintain open enrollment in our programs, as we understand that school populations change, as do the needs of the communities we serve.
Health Focused. We work tirelessly to align all aspects of our organization with opportunities to ensure each backpack provided includes healthy grains, fruits, vegetables, and protein so our child recipients and their families can easily prepare the healthiest meal possible.
Promote Volunteerism. We strengthen our volunteer-base almost daily, which brings new ideas, energy, support, and love into our organization. It is our goal to provide our communities with a local, positive, hands-on volunteer experience. We welcome volunteers of all ages and encourage student and team volunteerism. Our volunteer base packs and distributes food, organizes our pantry, and supports our events. We depend on our volunteers to help make our work possible.
Establish Roots. We have taken root with support from our entire community, and in just a few short years have expanded our reach through two counties and into 30 schools, serving hundreds of children throughout the entire year.