BRADENTON, Fla. — After contract change, feeding the needy is getting harder for some in Manatee County.
- Smaller Manatee food pantries having trouble getting supplies
- Feeding Tampa Bay ended its contract with the Food Bank of Manatee
- Food Bank of Manatee still has plenty of shelf stable items
- Food Bank of Manatee
About six months after Feeding Tampa Bay ended its contract with the Food Bank of Manatee, some of the county's smaller pantries and ministries are having trouble getting their hands on low-cost food items.
At Downtown Ministries in Bradenton, Director Christine Monroe-Loomes says they are having a hard time keeping the shelves stocked with some of their most sought after items. The ministry serves breakfast to more than 200 of the homeless population each day. Their daily meal consists of eggs, coffee, meats, and a handful of dry items like cereal and snack bars.
Before Feeding Tampa Bay and the Food Bank of Manatee ended their contract, Downtown Ministries would get most of their breakfast items from the food bank's Bradenton warehouse. Now, Loomes says, it is a daily struggle.
"We're able to get almost nothing. I don't think we've gotten cereal from them in over two months," she said.
The Food Bank of Manatee used to pick up items donated from 39 of the county's big box stores. Then, smaller pantries and organizations would go to their warehouse and shop for the items they need at a discounted rate.
As of July 1, Feeding Tampa Bay picks up the donated food.
"We don't have as much of the meat, we don't have as much of the bread and the dairy items that we used to pick up. We just don't have it," said Maribeth Phillips, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee, the organization that oversees the food bank.
The Food Bank of Manatee still has plenty of shelf stable items which they say help them serve many of their longtime community partners. They are sourcing other types of food they used to receive from Walmart, Sam's Club, and Publix from donations and food drives.
Under this new regional model, organizations like Downtown Ministries were invited to get food from Feeding Tampa Bay's distribution center. They are also welcome to continue shopping at the Food Bank of Manatee.
But, Loomes says, after trying out the trip to Tampa she decided against it. The 50 mile drive each way wasn't suitable for the types of food she was able to receive.
"We could have to take drops of pallets of food, many of the items that we can't use," Loomes explained.
Her organization used to thrive off the shopping-type experience she had at the Food Bank of Manatee that allowed her to select only breakfast foods she planned to serve.
Feeding Tampa Bay's Executive Director, Thomas Mantz, says they're distributing what it is donated and available to them. Items like cereal and snack bars, he says, are hard to find.
"We don't have those items in Tampa. There aren't those items in Manatee County, or in Lakeland, or any other part of our community," he said. "They just dont get donated the way that they used to."
According to Mantz, the types of foods being donated by big box stores has been evolving and now includes more fresh produce. He says the way that smaller organizations serve and distribute food may have to start evolving, too.
"Even the shelf stable that we have are not the common 25 items that are in everybody's pantry," he said. "Those don't exist in the donated world."
Mantz says while the way Feeding Tampa Bay has changed how they service the county, he says all food donated in Manatee County stays in Manatee County.
But for organizations like Downtown Ministries, paying for items like cereal, will mean cutting in other areas.
"What we didn't have to worry about a lot before, we now worry about daily," Loomes said.