50,000 Manatee residents rely on food banks. How the food gets delivered is changing

Some of the heartache created by the unknown when Feeding Tampa Bay ended its distribution arrangement with the Food Bank of Manatee eased Tuesday as food for the needy began to arrive to a handful of local agencies.

FTB, which is part of Feeding America, supplied the Food Bank of Manatee with half of its product. Agencies feared the transition would leave them without an ability to supply their communities with enough food to meet the demand of those in need.

A truck with about 9,000 pounds of food, including frozen meat and fresh produce, arrived to the door at Hunger's End at 1800 14th Ave. W Tuesday afternoon. It was substantially more food than Hunger's End typically receives.

"It's been an interesting few days," said Carl Snyder, co-founder of Hunger's End with his wife Vicki. "Change is never pleasing for anybody, but we got an opportunity to get more product than ever before, especially produce and I have to say for the first day, it's gone very well. We are going to be able to bless a lot more people than usual."

FTB notified the Food Bank of Manatee in April that it was making the transition to a new business model, which it had already rolled out in Pasco and Pinellas counties. By June, the final decision came down that the partnership between FTB and the Food Bank of Manatee would end and there would be no extension of services.

Though FTB claimed it had been conducting agency outreach since April in press release, no local food pantry officials interviewed by the Bradenton Herald reported being contacted until now. FTB distributed more than 2 million pounds of food to the Food Bank of Manatee and said that same amount, if not more, would still reach the needy in Manatee County.

FTB estimates there are 50,000 Manatee County residents who rely on food banks, including 18,000 children.

FTB has suspended transportation costs for direct delivery for the remainder of the year as the agency works to connect local food banks directly to local donors.

"I've been blown away at the amount of product," Vicki Snyder said, tearing up as a small army of volunteers behind her scrambled to get food out to a growing line of needy. "I'm very thankful and Feeding Tampa Bay has bent over backwards for us. I'd just like to tell the other agencies to give it a try. No one likes change, but this is an opportunity for a great new relationship and I'd encourage everyone to do it."

With a large presence of FTB staff on hand for Tuesday's media day, Director of Agency Relations and Programs Rhonda Gindlesperger said Hunger's End was the one of three agencies FTB has already delivered to this week.

"They've all been overwhelmed with all the wonderful product," she said. "This is just the beginning. We are making contact with every agency and have spoken to about 20 so far who will receive direct delivery. Our first goal is to identify their needs because what works for one agency doesn't work for another. So this is a rolling process in determining what those needs are and then what we need to do make sure those needs are met."

Gindlesperger said , for example, some agencies, like Hunger's End, will end up connecting directly with local donors, which requires additional food handling training. FTB is providing those free services.

Hunger's End also serves seniors at the Grand Palms senior housing facility nearby. Carl Snyder said many of those residents have to choose between food and paying bills, so the boost in product will allow Hunger's End, in turn, to boost its mission.

Snyder said the Food Bank of Manatee has been nothing but supportive.

"It's very emotional because it does impact their operations," he said. "But they are encouraging all of us to try this and see how it works for us. They are telling us that they are here for us as well and we will continue our partnership with them and shop for specific things we need."

FTB also encourages local agencies to continue their partnerships with the Food Bank of Manatee, which in turn is pledging to keep operating its food bank, Meals on Wheels Plus and programs, according to its director, Maribeth Phillips.

A call to action remains in place, she said, for the community to continue to help the Food Bank of Manatee to concentrate on its local programs.

This story was originally published July 3, 2018 at 3:15 PM.