SOS partners with Red Cross for new Irma relief food program

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

The impact of Hurricane Irma is still being felt in some areas of Monroe County but a new $200,000 grant from the American Red Cross will help feed families that are still struggling.

The grant was given to Star of the Sea Foundation (SOS), a hunger relief non-profit serving Monroe County. Based in Key West and Key Largo, SOS distributes food to low-income families throughout the county via its network of food distribution sites. It also prepares meals for low-income children and senior citizens at its community kitchen in Key West.

The grant will help fund long-term recovery programs to residents in the Florida Keys by making more food available to families that are currently under Monroe County Long Term Recovery Group case management. Anyone wishing to apply for help through the recovery group can call 305-340-8001.

Tom Callahan, SOS executive director, said his organization sometimes has difficulty finding enough sources of food to meet the demand at the 20-plus food distribution sites throughout Monroe County. Popular items like beans, rice, peanut butter and fresh meat are often in short supply because it is too expensive to buy them in volume, Callahan said.

“The variety and quality are not as varied as we would like,” he said.

The Red Cross grant is allowing SOS to negotiate wholesale purchase deals with food suppliers. Goya Foods, Smuckers and Florida Fresh Meat Company are now selling large pallets of food to SOS at wholesale prices. SOS has the freezers and storage areas to store the food, it just hasn’t always had the funds in the past to do so. Families under active case management by the Monroe County Long Term Recovery Group can access that food at the SOS food pantry in Key West and at the group’s food distribution sites.

“Those people will be able to come more frequently [to the food pantries] to have a better quality of food. Those are the people we’re trying to help,” Callahan said.

More information can be found on the SOS website at http://www.sosmission.org.

“The Red Cross is delighted to partner with the Star of the Sea Foundation, an organization that provided vital services in Monroe County during the aftermath of Hurricane Irma last year,” said Emily Borababy, executive director of the Greater Miami & the Keys Chapter. “We are thrilled to work with such a terrific partner to feed Monroe County residents.”

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