Believe it or not, summer is quickly approaching! While many kids are looking forward to spending time at home, being with friends and enjoying the summer weather, there are also many kids that are uncertain for how they will be fed during the week without their school providing meals. 

For the last eight summers, Food For Thought Outreach has provided food to students in need while they are on Summer Break.  Students that are on free and reduced meal programs during the school year, miss on average 110 meals over the summer, which is why Food For Thought does not stop providing meals to kids over Summer Break. 

The FFT Summer Program serves both Okaloosa and Walton Counties, providing 66K meals to 600 students over three months.  The students involved in the summer program are able to pick up a month's worth of food, three times at our pick-up locations located within both counties.

By continuing to keep kids fed throughout the summer, it is empowering these students to stay nourished and not worry about where their next meal will come from while they are out of school.  We are looking forward to be able to provide food to our students throughout the summer in hopes they will be able to enjoy their break as much as possible. 

Will you consider to sponsor a family over the summer? There are three ways that you can donate today for our Summer Program: 

• $35 - Feeds a student for a week
• $175 - Feeds a student for a month
• $375 - Feeds a student for the whole summer

Last week we at Food For Thought were honored to have Paula Deen stop by the Santa Rosa Beach Pantry! Paula and her foundation, The Bag Lady, graciously donated a $2,500 grant for Food for Thought.  

We are excited that Paula Deen has opened up two new restaurants in our area, "Paula Deen's Family Kitchen," in Panama City as well as a location at the Destin Commons.  Her new restaurant will also be partnering with Food For Thought to donate un-used or leftover food to be used in the Full Circle Kitchen cooking classes.  This un-used food will be air-sealed so that it can be kept as fresh as possible for the cooking classes. 

During her visit last week, Paula was able to see and help kids from the Walton Academy cook some of her very own recipes in the Full Circle Kitchen (pork chops and brussel sprouts), and she even leant a hand to the volunteer packing groups that were busy in the pantry prepping backpacks for the weekend.

Before leaving, Paula was even so kind to share in a blessing of the meal the students from Walton Academy had prepared.

We are so thankful for Paula Deen's generosity and look forward to working more together in the future to assist the children in our community.  

You can find out more information on Paula's visit to her new restaurant on the local news site, WEARTV.

For the last eight summers, Food For Thought Outreach has provided food to students in need while they are on Summer Break.  Students that are free and reduced meal programs during the school year, miss on average 110 meals over the summer, which is why Food For Thought does not stop providing meals to these kids over Summer Break. 

The FFT Summer Program serves both Okaloosa and Walton Counties, providing 66K meals to 600 students over three months.  The students involved in the summer program are able to pick up a month's worth of food, three times at our pick-up locations located within both counties.

By continuing to keep kids fed throughout the summer, it is empowering these students to stay nourished and not worry about where their next meal will come from while they are out of school.  We are looking forward to be able to provide food to our students throughout the summer in hopes they will be able to enjoy their break as much as possible. 

On average, teachers pay, out of their OWN pocket, $60 a month to provide food for kids in their classrooms.

After our founder, Tiffanie Nelson, experienced first hand a school nurse unable to comfort an elementary student due to hunger, Tiffanie saw another need that could be met by Food For Thought: provide snacks to school staff to hand out to kids to help bridge the hunger gap in the classroom.

Food For Thought Fun Fact: 245K Snacks are provided throughout the school year!

Since 2012, Food For Thought Outreach has been providing 47K snacks per month to schools in Okaloosa and Walton counties.  This has been a resource for teachers and school staff to help kids who may come to school hungry and are unable to concentrate, as well as lesson the burden on the teachers.  

Donations that are made to Food For Thought not only support the weekly Backpack Program, but also support teachers to bridge the hunger gap at school through the Snack Program.

To learn more, please contact us: support@fftfl.org

To Donate, click HERE

We would like to thank our Corporate Sponsor, Apex Disaster Relief Specialists for sponsoring our Thanksgiving Service this past fall.  Through their support we were able to feed 600 families for Thanksgiving this past holiday season, where an average of 10 meals per week are missed by kids.

In addition to bridging the food gap over the holidays, there is also a need to bridge this food gap and keep kids nourished over the summer break. During summer break, the average student in our program can miss 110 meals.  The Food For Thought summer service program will provide food for 600 families, providing them each with a month worth of food, three times (food for three months in total).  By becoming a Summer program sponsor, you will empower children to be well-fed to enjoy their summer break!

Found out more information HERE on our Corporate Sponsorship for the summer program, or contact us today: support@fftfl.org.