News » Fight Child Hunger
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Food for Thought Summer Program - Sponsors Needed!
We are so thankful for our seasonal sponsors who have helped bridge the hunger gap while school is out of session. This past school year, Apex Disaster Specialists and Bay Baits were our seasonal sponsors who enabled 600 families to be be fed over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Ensuring that our kids are fed over school breaks is crucial, as on average kids on free or reduced meal programs miss ten meals over Thanksgiving break and 20 meals over Christmas break.
Our work continues this summer. Would you consider to become a seasonal sponsor to help support children in need in your community while they are out of school and removed from the free and or reduced meals they depend on? 600 families will receive a month's worth of food three times over the summer months with your support of $10k.
If you are interested in becoming a seasonal sponsor and have more questions, please email our team today: Support@fftfl.org
Learn More Information Here to become a Seasonal Sponsor:
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DeFuniak Springs Ribbon Cutting Ceremony - May 2nd!
We are very excited for the official ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening of our Defuniak Springs Warehouse! The opening of this warehouse is a big move to help serve the needs of our community, as the Food For Thought program continues to grow. 
The new Defuniak Springs location will now be the third pantry location, allowing for the first time, Food for Thought to store and house three months worth of packaged food for the backpack and snack programs. This will help prevent any shortage or delays in receiving and delivering food, as this pantry is a central location to serve as the "pull center" for both the Destin and Santa Rosa Beach locations. This new location will also allow FFT to expand services, be able to source better food pricing and the size of the warehouse will allow for an easier time for our volunteers to help fill and deliver backpacks.
We are extremely grateful to our donors and volunteers who have made this new warehouse location possible! The generous contributions and donations of many Food For Thought supporters made the warehouse vision a reality over the last 15 months. We are looking forward to see how this new location will positively impact to serve our community!
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Recap: Chi Chi Miguel Weekend!
We are honored to have been a beneficiary of the 13th Annual Chi Chi Miguel Weekend, which raised over $1 Million for eight Gulf Coast non-profit organizations! We want to give a huge thank you to the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, who organized this fun filled weekend, and who has been a supporter of Food For Thought Outreach for so many years.
During the Chi Chi Miguel Throwdown Benefit Auction and BBQ, two of our students from the Emeril Lagasse Full Circle Kitchen, along with two students from Emeril's Culinary program at the Seaside School cooked and served their own culinary menu to attendees of the fundraiser. It was great to see how these students are benefiting and learning from these culinary programs in our area, helped made possible by fundraisers like these.
Thank you again to all the winemakers, chefs, volunteers and sponsors that made this event possible; it truly was a fun day and an honor to be a part of!
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Did you know? Reducing Food Waste Reduces Hunger
One way to help combat hunger in America is to also fight to reduce food waste. Almost half of the food grown, harvested and transported goes to waste in the United States.According to Feeding America, seventy-two billion pounds of food goes to waste each year, while forty million people are hungry in America. Feeding America works with companies and farmers to recover and distribute more than 3 billion pounds of food per year in order to give it to families that are in need. Also, according to The National Resource Defense Council, "if we were able to rescue just 15% of the food we waste each year, we’d save enough to feed 25 million Americans."
Here at Food For Thought, we work with local businesses to receive food that would otherwise be thrown out to be donated and used within our programs. The new Paula Deen's Family Kitchen restaurant in the Destin Commons will be donating unused ingredients, vacuum sealed, which we will be able to freeze and store for future use in classes in our Emeril Lagasse Full Circle Kitchen.Reducing food waste is just one other way we can help to fight hunger in our community!More information on reducing food waste can be found here: -
REMINDER: FFT Crawfish Boil May 5th!!
Our Crawfish Boil is just around the corner, and we want you to join us! If you have not signed up already, now is the time! 100% of all proceeds will be used for Food For Thought's Summer Program.
The Crawfish Boil will be held at the Santa Rosa Pantry (Directions can be found HERE) from 12-3pm on Sunday, May 5th. We will be featuring the culinary talents of Michael McIntosh (Henderson Beachwalk Cafe) and David Cunningham (Formerly a Chef at Trebeche). During the Crawfish Boil, you will also be able to enjoy the music of Scott Rockwood and Friends. This is a family friendly event, so please come join us!
Tickets can be purchased HERE our site.
$20 for Adults // $10 for Children
We are very excited for the official ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening of our Defuniak Springs Warehouse! The opening of this warehouse is a big move to help serve the needs of our community, as the Food For Thought program continues to grow. 
