The Feeding Our Future Program is a vital piece of our organization and was created from the need to ensure children had year round access to free nutritious meals.
During the school year, eligible children qualify for free or reduced cost breakfast and lunch through the National School Lunch Program. However, when these children are out of school for the holiday and summer vacation breaks, they don’t always have the same access to food, and many are at risk of going without eating at least twice daily. When the UFB considered this crucial gap in services, the agency initiated the Feeding Our Future Program to provide children and their families’ groceries to supplement the school’s food program.
Now, these families are assured of having breakfast and lunch for their children throughout the calendar year. The UFB works closely with the local Hillsborough County Public Schools for the Eastern Hillsborough locations to readily identify those students eligible for participation.
Zip Codes Served:
- Brandon: 33510, 33511
- Dover: 33527
- Dover/Sydney: 33587
- Lithia: 33547
- Plant City: 33563, 33564, 33565, 33566, 33567
- Riverview: 33569, 33578, 33579
- Seffner: 33584
- Thonotosassa: 33592
- Valrico: 33594, 33596
- Wimauma: 33598
The Feeding Our Future Program Facts
– 900 Weekly Weekend kids bags to local schools
– Provides meals to over 15,000 children each year during out of schools times including winter, spring, & summer breaks.
– Over 225,000 + pounds of food distributed yearly through this program
– Ensuring no child in our community goes hungry when schools are closed
Weekend Backpack Program
At United Food Bank, we feel that no child should ever have to go hungry. While the Hillsborough County School District provides children from low-income households with free breakfast and lunch while in school, many children have reported not having enough food to eat during times when school is out. UFB believes no child should have to go hungry or suffer from poor nutrition. Our Weekend Backpack program supplies children with a backpack filled with nutritional items for them to take home on Fridays, thus increasing their food security when school is out on the weekends. The program provides children the items necessary for six meals and snacks.
Break Bags
Students also face hunger when school is out for breaks. With over 14 weeks of holiday breaks and long summers without free or reduced, there is often a large gap in nutrition for families who are struggling to pay the bills. To bridge this gap UFB has the Break Bag Program. This program offers families a bag of food every week that children are out of school a week or more.
HCC Bags
Hunger doesn’t just end when someone graduates high school. With the raising cost of tuition and textbooks many college students find themselves with not a lot of money left over for food. To help these students succeed the food bank has partnered with HCC and offers much needed food and toiletries to college students on a weekly basis. Allowing student to focus more on their studies and less on where their next meal is coming from.