Our Daily Bread Food Pantry Inc

Our Daily Bread Food Pantry exists to share the love of God by reducing hunger and building relationships in our community. Our goal is to offer nourishing food choices, dignity, encouragement and hope. Our vision is working to wipe out hunger in Collier County, FL by making food accessible and available to anyone in need.

Food Pantry Program:  As a resort area with a seasonal influx of residents and visitors, our guests often have greater need in off-season when jobs are cut-back or eliminated. We must stockpile necessities during season to cover the heightened need of the summer months. We are raising awareness during season and seeking grants. Mobile Pantry Program: The most fluid of our programs, the success of our Mobile Pantry Program hinges upon our ability to react to new requirements when we recognize them. When Saturday pantries or weekday appointments cannot meet guests need  for food due to work schedules (many have multiple or weekend jobs), or lack of transportation (38% of Marco Island students live off-island and commute via school buses) we are choosing to go beyond the four walls of our pantry to them. This has involved standardizing pre-packaged bags of food and working with other organizations to bring in their volunteers to help meet the growing need.  Approximately 43% of our students receive Federally assisted food from our local schools. During the summer, that food goes away and we help to meet this need by providing food via our Mobile Pantry every week to four schools, two local churches, and to farm workers in the 41 Corridor area. Senior Citizen Initiative: Marco Island is an area with many seniors who retire here and yet is without a Senior Center.  Many seniors juggle their limited incomes between housing, food, and medications. We have a dedicated Senior Initiative Director and a three fold Senior Initiative:(1) A monthly "Lunch with Friends" is held jointly with the YMCA in a local church with a free (donated) meal served by volunteers, programs which are informative, educational, or entertaining, door prizes, and transportation if needed. The meals are graciously donated by local businesses. These luncheons provide an opportunity for seniors to socialize, make friends, and enjoy each others' company. (2) A monthly Senior Pantry Day immediately following  'Lunch with Friends" is provided where seniors can shop for their food at the pantry without having to wait in the Saturday pantry lines and take advantage of the transportation provided.(3) We have partnered with Harry Chapin Food Bank to be a distribution point for Care & Share  supplemental food for seniors who are on a limited budget. Volunteer Program: In order to manage, schedule, train, attract, and encourage dedicated volunteers to work in the Food Pantry and its outreaches we have dedicated a Coordinator for this program. We have implemented scheduling software to communicate electronically with our volunteers so they can easily sign up for their work sessions (SignUp Genius). With a Volunteer base that is both full-time on the island, seasonal, and multi-lingual (English, Spanish, and Creole) we provide training and a Handbook to teach our Volunteers  how to run the pantry in an optimal way.

As a volunteer-led and volunteer-operated organization, we trace all our accomplishments back to the people who have joined us in our mission.Board/ Leadership Team: The 4-person leadership team pulls from varied backgrounds including: software development, food procurement, sales and marketing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, project management, and manufacturing executive management.Volunteers: Our volunteer base has grown from 4 to over 500, making new talents available to the Pantry, including the services of a pro-bono CPA and bookkeeper.
We provide training and a Handbook, and mentoring of new volunteers. Partnerships:  We have partnered with service and faith based organizations as well as businesses for food, volunteers, and funds. Al's Pals, a local philanthropy service group, is our mobile pantry food distribution partner. Baby Basics of Collier County has chosen our pantry as a diaper distribution site. We have worked each year with Kiwanis on their Christmas in July program to provide schools backpacks for children. Automation: We currently use FoodBank Manager, SignUp Genius (volunteers), Network For Good (donor management) and QuickBooks software systems.

Our story started right here on Marco Island at the Tommie Barfield Elementary School in 2016. A teacher noticed that some of her students were having difficulty concentrating during the school day. Concerned, she learned that these same students did not have enough food to eat on weekends. While participating in the Federal meal subsidization program during the school week, these children simply didn't have access to food on non-school days. The school began stuffing backpacks with food on Fridays. Word of this spread to one of our founders who learned that 41% of the school's children qualified for the feeding program. It was our first hint of the local hunger problem, showing itself through the most vulnerable among us - the children.But just how big was the need? This was the question asked early on by our founders, a group of local Marco Island women. Doing their due diligence, these women joined the Hunger and Homeless Coalition of Collier County, toured local pantries and charities, and researched best practices. After noting the non-existence of a food pantry between the Naples Courthouse and Everglades City, they had the validation they needed to create a food pantry on Marco Island. Our Daily Bread Food Pantry soon had a physical address in Annex building at 1450 Winterberry Drive. With the initial infrastructure in place and shelves needing to be filled, the founding team began getting the word out to churches, businesses, and civic organizations while pursuing strategic relationships with three major food banks.On January 9, 2016 the Food Pantry opened its doors. Our first year over 3600 guests and 300 families had received over 50,000 pounds of nourishing food.In 2017 we continued the fight against hunger serving 11,700 guests with over 150,00 pounds of food  and expanding our outreach to the local YMCA, 41 Corridor families and Seniors (Lunch with Friends and Senior Pantry Day)..In addition, when the eye of Hurricane Irma hit our island in September of 2017, the pantry met the needs of feeding 200 First Responders, EMS and FEMA workers for the first week they were on the island. In 2018 we also expanded our Mobile Pantries to two schools and upgraded our Senior Initiative to include Care & Share supplemental foods from Harry Chapin Food Bank (HCFB). We became the distribution center on pantry days for Baby Basics free diapers for those who qualify. We served 26,600 people by 2018 year end, 29,000 in 2019. In a county where over 40,000 are food insecure, we are pleased to have helped to feed over 71, 000 people in the first four years. In 2020 with the change of the economy due to COVID-19 the need for food has increased by 560%. We are currently serving an average 10,000 people each month, projecting over 100,000 by year end 2020.