United Food Bank and Services of Plant City, Inc.
Annual Report 2017-18
Providing a hand up and not a hand out
To provide assistance for those in need, moving them from a state of hunger and impoverishment
to self-suffi ciency, empowerment, and self-reliance.
In looking back over the last year, the United Food
Bank and Services of Plant City is grateful to its
many supporters as we report a 73 percent increase in
contributions, fundraising, and grant activity from the
previous year as verified in our most recent, annual audit
completed for the year ending June 30, 2018 by Raulerson
Castillo & Company, Certified Public Accountants.
With this good news comes a staggering reality for the
working poor served by this agency: while fundraising is
more successful than in years past, food donations are not
keeping pace with the extreme increase in demand. The
available product gap is significant.
While food contributions increased by 64 percent two
years ago from fiscal year FY2016 to FY2017, there was
only a 7 percent increase in food contributions this last
year from FY2017 to FY 2018: $3,587,700 donated in 2017
compared to $3,831,621 in 2018 to support an 18 percent
increase in people served. The food bank is struggling to
stock the shelves in order to serve vulnerable children and
families with food insecurities in Plant City, Dover, Seffner,
Valrico, Thonotosassa, and Lithia.
We can have up to 300 cars on any given day wrapped
around our building at 702 E. Alsobrook Street in Plant
City, with children, families, and individuals all in need
of assistance and counting on their local food bank, in
operation since 1991, to provide a hand up and not a hand
out.
What has changed to account for the decrease in
food supplies donated to United Food Bank? For one,
supermarket and wholesale inventory systems are
more precise so overruns and unused food supplies—
United Food Bank shelf-stable inventory
transported with our own refrigerated box truck—are less
than last year.
Feeding Tampa Bay, part of the Feeding America network,
supplies the United Food Bank with 4 percent of its
donated food at an annual cost, while the remaining 96
percent of inventory is donated and picked up at Publix
(a long-standing partner), supplied generously by Gordon
Foods and Star Distribution, donated by residents or
corporations, or purchased with general operating funds
by the food bank.
I hope to close the gap between supply and demand by
identifying funding for our core program: hunger relief.
Only when someone has food security can they then
focus on their health, parenting, success in school, income
stability, affordable housing, and a living
wage. First things first.
Mary Heysek
Reminder of Empty Bowls
2011 was the inaugural year for the United Food
Bank’s Empty Bowls Project, which took place on
November 12, at the Robert W. Willaford Railroad
Museum in Plant City. What started out as a combined
art and lunch project to bring public awareness to the
issues of local hunger in East Hillsborough, has grown
to 800 to 1,000 ticket sales per year.
Empty Bowls was originally started in 1990 as a
grassroots movement in Michigan by Lisa Blackburn
and art teacher, John Hartom. It is often held in
conjunction with the United Nations sponsored World
Food Day in participating communities across the
nation and in Canada. Event guests choose a bowl and
keep it as a reminder of all of the empty bowls in the
world. It was Hartom’s idea to give artists and local art
students a way to personally make a difference in their
community.
The Empty Bowls Project in Plant City—to bring
awareness to food insecurity throughout the entire
United Food Bank service area of Plant City, Dover,
Seffner, Valrico, Thonotosassa, and Lithia—is
coordinated annually by the committee chairman and
United Food Bank Board Member, Silvia Dodson, and
her entire committee.
Since its start in East Hillsborough, and with the help
of a grant from the Arts Council in Plant City, the food
bank engaged David Dye, a retired pottery artist from
the Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus, to
become a Pottery Artist guest instructor in the schools.
Mr. Dye demonstrates the art form in at least nine
Hillsborough County Area 5 elementary and middle
schools. Following a demonstration, students are
encouraged to then create and donate their pottery for
the Empty Bowls event.
While it is the second leading fundraising event, next
to Celebrity Chef, for the United Food Bank each year,
it is so much more. It’s a means to advocate for hunger
relief in our own back yard using an intergenerational,
visual arts, community-based approach.
In 2013, the United Food Bank and its Empty Bowls
Project Committee welcomed 13 participating churches
and organizations with the presentation of 20 different
soups donated for the event. Last year the number of
participating organizations rose to 30 with 34 varieties
of donated soup. Additionally, in 2017, 26 schools
participated in making clay bowls that the public took
home from the Empty Bowls event as a reminder of the
many bowls that go unfilled each day.
The Empty Bowls art-for-hunger event is taking place
from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on November 10, 2018, at
the Railroad Museum in Plant City. The popularity of
the event and the local soup recipes inspired an Empty
Bowls cookbook to go on sale in November 2018.
The tenth annual United Food Bank Celebrity Chef fundraiser that took
place on February 3, 2018, was a great success with nearly 50 silent and
live auction items, including a dinner for six at nationally renowned Chef
Fabio Viviani’s new Osteria restaurant in downtown Tampa, opening in early
October 2018. Chef Viviani gave a live cooking demonstration in front of
more than 300 Celebrity Chef event attendees at The John Trinkle Center
in Plant City. This is the second appearance by Chef Viviano, well known
for his debut on Bravo’s Top Chef. Other celebrities have included the Lee
Brothers and Emily Ellyn.
A date of February 2, 2019, is reserved for the next Celebrity Chef event
held on behalf of the United Food Bank and Services of Plant City.
Mosaic Advances Food Security
The Mosaic Company helps the world to grow the
food it needs. This industry leader with a global
presence has significant roots in Central Florida. In the
Tampa Bay area Mosaic has offices and operations
in Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Hardee, and DeSoto
counties with more than 3,000 employees in the state
of Florida, and 1,000 of them living in Hillsborough
County.
Mosaic strives to strengthen communities where it
has offices and operations. Central to this corporation
are the community investments it makes in three core
areas: food, water, and supporting local communities.
Mosaic recognizes that food production must double
by 2050 to meet the growing global population and
address the nearly one billion individuals who will go to
bed hungry today.
The United Food Bank has partnered with The Mosaic
Company since 2012 with the volunteerism of Donna
Burke, Strategic Sourcing
Manager, serving on the
United Food Bank and
Services of Plant City Board
of Directors. Additionally,
Mosaic continued many
years of financial support to
United Food Bank given by
CF Industries by providing
operational, program, and
logistical improvement
funding through the direction
of Public Affairs
Manager Nikki Foster.
Nikki Foster, Public Affairs
Manager, The Mosaic Company
The food bank is a natural partner with Mosaic as it
falls within its core area of investing in food insecurity
and development in local communities where Mosaic
operates. Global agricultural development and
agricultural education are also priorities of the Mosaic
Company Foundation in this one core area of “food.”
United Food Bank and Services of Plant City relies on
strong funder partnerships to continue to grow and
meet an ever increasing demand for services with a
hand up and not a hand out. It’s not just a funder;
Mosaic is a direct collaborator in its community
investment areas. This enables the food bank to better
serve those in need and provide supportive services
that promote personal strength, family and child wellbeing,
and self-sufficiency.
When asked about nonprofit alignment to the
core investment strategies of Mosaic and what the
foundation looks for when reviewing applications
for funding, Ms. Foster responded, “In the space of a
nonprofit, we want to ensure it’s reputable, financially
sound, and has strong leadership. Most importantly, we
look for organizations that are focused on its mission
and is able to meet its goals. We look for strong
community partners. This is when it’s not just about
what you do, but how you do it.”
Driveway improvements at United Food Bank and Services: mission accomplished.
The funding is secured. It is a near $80,000 project to reinforce the back loading
area at the United Food Bank and to redesign the front parking lot to accommodate
up to 300 vehicles on any given day.
The front of the United Food Bank building was never designed for the volume of
traffic created by food bank clients and guests. Thanks to BBE-Boggs Engineering for
the design and specifications (and Hillsborough Surveying with donated services) that
allowed WTS Wetherington to advance the plans and complete the paving. The project
was made possible with a donation from local residents Bill Carr and Jennifer Closshey
with additional funds from Hillsborough County secured by Commissioner Stacy White
of District 4 .
Florida Department of Health
Partnership
Program Overviews
PreventT2, a proven program to prevent or delay type 2
diabetes, is brought to Plant City by the Florida Department
of Health in Hillsborough in partnership with the United Food
Bank. The curriculum used by the Florida Department of
Health (provided over a 12-month period) is furnished by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough reached
out to the United Food Bank in March of 2016 to implement
a PreventT2 year-long program on-site in Plant City. It is a
critical service to the community; approximately 1 out of 3
American adults has prediabetes while 1 out of 10 American
adults has diabetes (CDC Website, 2018).
Type 2 diabetes puts individuals at risk for serious health problems
such as those listed below, including a 50 percent higher
risk of death than individuals without the disease:
• heart attack
• stroke
• blindness
• kidney failure
• loss of toes, feet, or legs
By participating in a CDC-recognized lifestyle change program
an individual can cut their risk of type 2 diabetes in half. Specifically,
National Institutes of Health (NIH) studies have shown
that people with prediabetes who take part in a structured lifestyle
change program, lose 5 percent to 7 percent of their body
weight through healthier eating, and commit to 150 minutes of
physical activity per week can cut their risk of developing type
2 diabetes by 58 percent and by 71 percent for people over 60
years old.
Greg Champlin, Nutrition Educator in Community Health from
the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County, instructs
the PreventT2 curriculum at the United Food Bank. It is
the second 12-month course offering at this location. Multiple
sites are available in the county for the PreventT2 program.
The data produced following the first PreventT2 program held
at the United Food Bank with five people completing all 26
modules through a full year’s commitment are as follows:
• Total Lbs. Lost: 81 Lbs.
• Total Avg. % Weight Loss: 8.4%
• Avg. Lbs. Lost Per Person: 16.2 Lbs.
With a new 12-month program underway at the Food Bank,
local resident, James Beier, Ph.D., who attended the inaugural
PreventT2 program, came back to provide personal testimony:
he lost 21 pounds and has kept them off. He said he stopped
eating sugar and preservatives, started checking labels, and
put into practice what he was taught in the program.
United Food Bank seeks to stamp out hunger in East
Hillsborough County through a holistic approach, including
community referrals, to reduce some of the causes
of hunger: lack of access to food stamps, unforeseen medical
costs, low wages, housing costs, unemployment, and
poor money management. The following programs are part
of the food bank’s 2017-18 onsite continuum of care:
• Food Distribution: grocery stores, donors, cash
purchases, Feeding America, foundation partners
• Emergency Food Distribution: Funders/ FEMA
• FDIC Money Smart Program: Regions Bank
• ACCESS Site: approved DCF site for benefi t sign up
and monitoring (food stamps, etc.)
• Education Center: computer lab and internet for job
search, insurance registration, educational classes
and tutorials, GED preparation
• Hunger on Campus: with Hillsborough Community
College, lunch and learn sessions on campus and
provision of emergency food supply boxes
• Children’s Nutritional Outreach: Hillsborough
County Public Schools Area 5
• Diabetes Prevention Class: FL Dept. of Health
• Cooking Classes: Hispanic Services Council
• Health Literacy: Hispanic Services Council and
Florida Blue
• Flu Shots: BayCare’s South FL Baptist Hospital
• Interns: Hillsborough Education Foundation with
Bank of America and Take Stock in Children; and
Hillsborough Community College clinical program
• Volunteers: Plant City Housing Authority, Plant City
High, Durant High, Rotary, Elks, Lions Club, local
churches, court-order, and corporate employees
s
potlight on Childhood Hunger and Nutrition
United Food Bank partners with Hillsborough
County Public Schools Area 5 to
conduct a food drive and generate 174,000
pounds of food for children in need. During
the winter, spring, and summer breaks
from school, 600 bags go out per week to
approximately 7,339 children who are provided
food during vulnerable times, up from
6,515 children served in 2016.
Demographics
Financial Update
DEMOGRAPHICS
A combined total population of 183,691 that includes service to
residents in Plant City, Dover, Thonotosassa, Seffner, Valrico,
Lithia, and limited outreach to Riverview. (US Census)
Plant City Hillsborough County
Per Capita Income $21,597 Per Capita Income $28,727
↓Poverty w/children
Publix Addresses Local Hunger
Publix Super Markets opened its first store in Winter
Haven, Florida in 1930 founded by George Jenkins,
with just 6 associates. Today, Publix has grown to more
than 1,200 stores across seven
states: FL, GA, AL, TN, SC, NC
and VA. Mr. George’s spirit of
giving – a corner store of the
company culture, and the more
than 196,000 Publix associates
continue to carry on that spirit of
giving each and every day.
Brian West, Media and
Community Relations Manager,
Publix
Publix has been a strong partner
with the United Food Bank and
Services in Plant City. Brian S.
West, Publix Super Markets, Inc. Media and Community
Relations Manager, has served as a board member for
the United Food Bank since 2006. In recent years, Publix
has increased their support of the food bank through
their (1) Perishable Recovery program (2) the Food For
All program where customers and associates make
donations at the register for unrestricted funding for
hunger efforts, and (3) the Food for Sharing program
held in the spring and late summer each year where
customers and associates make donations at the register
that are converted to food items and donated to food
banks, (4) through its Publix Serves Day in which Publix
associates have helped clean, paint, and repair parts
of the food bank, and (5) through sponsorships and
general donations.
In addition to this strong support, United Food Bank
has collaborated with Publix Super Markets Charities
through grant requests focusing on youth, education,
and reducing hunger.
Since beginning their Perishable Recovery program in
2009, Publix Super Markets, Inc. has contributed nearly
300 million pounds of product.
Brian West knows Plant City, and not just because it’s in
the backyard of their Lakeland corporate headquarters,
or because he has been with Publix for 28 years, but
because he has first hand knowledge of the needs of
Plant City. He’s very proud that he was born and raised
in this city.
The first Publix opened in
downtown Plant City in 1945
following the acquisition of the
Lakeland Grocery Company and
their 19 All American stores
(one of which was located in
downtown immediately south
of today’s Whistle Stop Café).
Another milestone occurred in 1966 when Mr. George
established Publix Super Markets Charities.
Even as inventory procedures become more sophisticated,
there will always be some degree of shrink, which
creates an opportunity for perishable items that can be
donated to the community. West observed, “Partnering
with food banks and pantries is a natural fit. Since I
began serving the food bank, we’ve continued to see a
dramatic increase in need, and this
isn’t unique to Plant City.
Star Distribution has made financial and equipment contributions to the United Food
Bank throughout the years. A new Energy Master forklift was donated to the Food
Bank toward the end of the last fiscal year in 2018 by Star Distribution; this donation is
in addition to their consistent pledge of financial support to this nonprofit. Founded in
1892, Larry Jimenez, Sr. and his family—owners since 1948—transitioned Star from a food
brokerage and sales company to Florida’s most premier 3rd party, full service logistics
solutions company with a state-of-the-art facility in Plant City.
Gordon Food Service, a family owned Michigan business started its Plant City operations
in 2010. Since then, the company has provided United Food Bank with regular
donations and direct staff involvement. Earl Biggs, Regional Director, Transportation, for
Gordon Food Service is a United Food Bank board member. It is important to their employees
that they participate. As Mr. Biggs firmly believes, “It would be ideal if there was
no food insecurity or hunger, but the fact is, the need is real and continues to grow. We
cannot ignore this...”
Reality of College Campus Hunger
Hunger on college campuses is a reality that is
becoming more and more common. As reported in
early 2018 by a Temple University and Wisconsin HOPE
Lab, more than a third of college students can’t afford
to eat or have stable housing. In addition to 36 percent
of students reporting food insecurity and another 36
reporting housing insecurity, another 9 percent were
homeless.
These numbers are even higher for community college
students: 42 percent report that they struggle to obtain
adequate food and miss a complete day of meals
per month. And 46 percent of the community college
students said they had difficulty paying for housing and
utilities.
United Food Bank has forged a unique collaboration
with Hillsborough Community College (HCC) Plant City
Campus to address college hunger. In working with Dr.
Martyn Clay, Campus President and Cris Legner, Dean,
Student Services, Food Bank Executive Director, Mary
Heysek and Operations Manager, Ashlee Montanaro,
present issues of hunger during on-campus
lunch and learn sessions. HCC has a Food
Insecurity Task Force covering its campuses,
flyers are distributed, and staff are trained in
interventions.
Hillsborough Community College recognizes the stigma
that can be attached to food or housing insecurity for
their students. They have worked out an arrangement
with the food bank to supply a weekend box (an emergency
ration stored on campus and distributed by the
Dean of Student Services, Dean of Academic Affairs, or
through the Office of the President, to students who
identify a need along with a voucher to present at the
food bank).
By the numbers:
• Since April of 2018, HCC Plant City has distributed
55 emergency food boxes.
• United Food Bank has provided 80 emergency
boxes to the campus.
• HCC Plant City has distributed between 60-75
vouchers for food bank services to students.
• During a two-day “Welcome Back” event in August
of 2018, 39 vouchers and three emergency boxes
were handed out in just two days.
“What is extremely gratifying is that we realized a need
and identified how to fix it, and connected those students
with needs to the United Food Bank. In addition,
students, including some receiving assistance, are coming
back to the food bank to volunteer to help others.”
—Dr. Martyn Clay, Campus President
Mary Heysek and Ashlee Montanaro Presenting at HCC Plant City in April 2018
Volunteerism at United Food Bank and Services for the FY 2017-18 remained strong. From FY 2016 to FY 2018
there was a 53 percent increase in volunteer hours going from 4,377 in FY 2016 to 4,570 in FY 2017 to 6,704 in
FY 2018. Volunteers are provided by corporations, community neighbors, churches, board members, and through
court-ordered community service (another 500-600 volunteer hours per year). Corporate volunteers come from
Publix, Mosaic, Suncoast Credit Union, Bank of America, Keller Williams, State Farm, Plant City Housing Authority, Area
Agency on Aging, Camping World, and College Hunks Hauling Junk. Bright Futures and other students volunteer from
Plant City and Durant High Schools. The food bank receives two HCC clinical interns per semester.
702 E. Alsobrook St., Suite H
Plant City, FL 33563
813-764-0625
www.ufbpc.org
ANNUAL REPORT 2017-18 ENCLOSED
Save The Date: Upcoming Food Bank Events
Empty Bowls Event: 11/10/18
Art for hunger awareness
Homemade bowls and soup
Willaford Railroad Museum
United Food Bank and Services of Plant City, Inc.
Annual Report 2017-18
Providing a hand up and not a hand out
Celebrity Chef Event: 2/2/19
Chefs: Sheriff Chronister &
Police Chief Ed Duncan
Emcee: Mayor Rick Lott
11th Annual Event
The John Trinkle Center
oard Chairman’s Report
B
I am honored to serve as President of United Food
Bank’s Board of Directors beginning July 2018 through
June 2019. I’ve been a director on this board since 2011,
with a prior two-year term as the Board Treasurer.
My leadership is immensely enhanced by the strength
and depth of our 18 dedicated board members, while
we continue to mourn the loss of board member David
Galloway who passed away a year ago this October.
Professionally, I have spent 25 years in community banking,
20 of those years here in Plant City; I currently serve
as Senior Vice President of Hillsboro Bank in Plant City.
In addition, I’m committed to improving the community in
which my wife Mary and our two daughters live and work.
I just completed a four-year term as the East
Hillsborough appointed Planning Commissioner for
Hillsborough County, served more than a decade as
City of Plant City Planning and Zoning Board member,
a Raider Champions Foundation Founding Director and
Treasurer, 2012 Chairman of the Plant City Chamber of
Commerce, and Plant City Rotary Club member.
United Food Bank has helped families I know personally
to bridge a short-term, unexpected fi nancial hurdle. To
honor our mission, I will focus my chairmanship on the
collection of shelf-stable foods and new fundraising.
On behalf of the entire board, I want to thank Hillsborough
County, Commissioner Stacy White (District 4),
and two local donors for making our recent driveway
improvements possible.
UFBPC Board Members
George W. Banning
Earl Biggs
Donna Burke
Mathew Buzza
David Davenport
Silvia Dodson
David H. Galloway †
Kendelle Jimenez
Bill McDaniel
Marsha Passmore
Matt Buzza
UFBPC Board Members
Rev. Dean Pfeffer
Jon Poppell
Daniel Raulerson
Bruce Rodwell
Bruce Sperry
Beth Tancredo
William Thomas
Brian West, Emeritus
Dodie White
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