Destin Harvest and the Darden Foundation Partner to Increase Recipient Organizations in Crestview.

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:18:20 +0000

Grant is one of nearly 900 to be awarded through the inaugural Darden Restaurant Community Grants Program

Destin, FL – April 14, 2012 – Destin Harvest, Local food-network distribution organization, today announced it has been selected to receive a $2,000 grant as part of the inaugural Restaurant Community Grant Program from the Darden Foundation, the charitable arm of Darden Restaurants Inc. The Restaurant Community Grant Program is a local grants program intended to help support nonprofit organizations in the hundreds of communities Darden and its restaurant brands serve. The donation will enable Destin Harvest’s project to take on at least three new recipient feeding programs in Okaloosa County.

Restaurants within the Darden family – Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 – are helping to award more than $1.7 million in local grants to nearly 900 exceptional nonprofit organizations nationwide. Nonprofits receiving grants support one of Darden’s three key focus areas: access to postsecondary education, preservation of natural resources and hunger.

“Destin Harvest is very grateful for the opportunity to be a recipient of such a wonderful foundation and plans to use the grant to reach out to new feeding programs on the outskirts of our service area.”

“Each grant is not just a check – it is an opportunity to make an impact, from providing essential supplies to food banks in Oregon, to mentoring students in Phoenix and supporting environmental education in New England,” said Drew Madsen, president and chief operating officer of Darden Restaurants, Inc. “Our service philosophy extends far beyond the walls of our restaurants. These grants bring that philosophy to life by helping to develop a better future for those we serve, one community at a time.”

For more information about the Darden Foundation, please visit http://www.darden.com/commitment/community.asp.

Chronic Hunger in Northwest Florida Elementary Schools

chris — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:56:30 +0000

Local efforts are being made by small churches and organizations – in Fort Walton Beach, Navarre, Niceville, Crestview and even areas in Walton County – to identify chronic childhood hunger in local elementary schools. Similar efforts are being made, not only in Florida, but all over the country. In Fort Walton Beach, each school, on average, identifies at least 25 children suffering from chronic hunger, likely receiving no additional nutrition outside of school hours. This is just the tip of the iceberg as middle-schoolers and high-schoolers are experiencing the same issue.

How do we know children are hungry?

It’s hard for some people to believe that children in the United States could ever have a problem acquiring food. Maybe it’s easier to believe that food insecurity is exceptionally rare but could occur anywhere. The truth is – it’s far more common than most people realize. It is the reason why Feeding America, the nationwide hunger relief network organization of over 200 food banks, is now providing a “BackPack Program” to aid in ensuring foods are reaching children outside of school hours who qualify for it. Only schools with at least 50 percent of enrolled students receiving free or reduced lunches qualify for the BackPack Program.

Teachers and school counselors are able to identify chronic hunger in a child by very specific behavior such as -

noticeable extreme hunger on Monday mornings
regularly asking for food
bugging classmates for food they won’t eat
saving/hoarding/stealing food to take home for themselves and/or a sibling
lingering by trash can trying receive foods from kids before they throw away what they wouldn’t eat.

What is the Backpack Program. How can I help?

The BackPack Program is a nationwide effort initiated by the largest hunger relief organization in the United States, Feeding America. The purpose of the program is to successfully identify hunger in qualified schools through a comprehensive referral process conducted by teachers and student counselors. Local churches, organizations (Youth United and Continuum of Care) and businesses have currently raised enough funds to purchase portioned non perishable foods for a year for nine elementary. The foods are intended to be bagged and provided discreetly (usually placed in their backpacks during recess hours) to the qualified children. The goal of the program is for the child to have enough food for the weekend before returning to school.

Destin Harvest’s Involvement

All foods are stocked and warehoused at the Bay Area Food Bank branch in Milton, FL, a member organization of Feeding America. Destin Harvest is committed to picking up the palleted, portioned foods from Milton and distributing for free the purchased foods to the churches, organizations and businesses sponsoring the local elementary schools. Currently Destin Harvest picks up and delivers for Wright Elementary, Elliot Point Elementary, Kenwood Elementary, Florosa Elementary, Longwood Elementary, Shalimar Elementary and Silver Sands Exceptional Children School. By covering the transportation cost of eight elementary schools in Okaloosa County, Destin Harvest estimates saving local efforts $5,760 a year.