Publix Super Markets Charities has been partnering with the Food Shuttle to fight hunger for years. Their generous $75,000 annual grant supports our Child Hunger Programs, increasing the number of children fed through BackPack Buddies and families served through School Choice Pantries. With recent cuts in governmental food support programs like SNAP and skyrocketing food costs due to inflation, these programs are more needed than ever but also require more funding than ever. Publix Super Markets Charities’ annual support also allows us to produce more fresh fruits and vegetables at our agriculture sites, providing access to more fresh, nutritious food through our Mobile Markets and Community Pantries. This funding for our Agricultural Programs also means that we can increase access to education opportunities through our Learning Gardens. We are so grateful for this long-term, loyal support that helps us to feed, teach, and grow to fight hunger in our community.
This year, Publix Super Markets Charities have gone above and beyond in their generosity, providing an additional $85,000 Special Hunger Grant to support the relaunch of our Culinary Apprenticeship Program! From its inception in 1998 until it was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Culinary Apprenticeship Program (CAP) allowed unemployed or underemployed community members to access valuable education and experience in the culinary arts. The skills students learned through this program opened up a wide variety of job opportunities in the vibrant local restaurant community, creating pathways to financial and career stability. This beloved program graduated over 73 classes and a total of 438 students before it was suspended due to COVID-19 safety concerns. Publix Super Markets Charities’ Special Hunger Grant will help to support the first year of the relaunched program, which will offer CAP sessions to a total of twenty-four students.
We are so grateful for Publix’s rich history of partnership with the Food Shuttle and excited about their willingness to support us in this new venture. Through their generosity, they are not only providing emergency food to neighbors in need, but also funding long-term, sustainable solutions to food insecurity. Thank you, Publix Super Markets Charities!