PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Around three million Floridians rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table.
So many local families are having a hard time, including some of those a part of the Pinellas County School District, asking for help while they wait for crucial benefits.
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“We’ve had an influx of emails and phone calls from families requesting additional support,” said Lisa DePaolo, Managing Officer Prevention with the Pinellas County School District.
After so many requests, the district started compiling a list of resources available to families needing food, to help as many as possible.
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“We know that having a balanced diet, a healthy diet, is so important to our students and to our children. So for us to be able to offer that resource is really important,” said DePaolo.
In Pinellas County, 37,310 students are on free or reduced lunch. That’s 45% of the district’s students.
As far as how students can get food while they’re at school, all schools in Pinellas provide free breakfast.
The 135 schools that are a part of the Community Eligibility Program, provide free lunch to all students.
The district also has more than 30 on-site food pantries available where people can get free food.
“Then we also have a location out of Clearview Adult Ed that’s for schools that don’t have their own food pantry. So that’s a partnership with Feeding Tampa Bay. And what we do is we have our student services team members access the food pantry on behalf of families,” said DePaolo.
Since the government shutdown, the district has had 300 requests to use the pantries, and 190 of those were students needing food.
“We also have Pack a Snack. A lot of our schools offer this and it’s supplement food that goes home on the weekends that’s shelf stable. So it goes home with students in their backpack and families can utilize that,” said DePaolo.
If your family needs help, you’re encourage to contact your child’s school and ask to speak with the Student Services team.
“It is made up of social workers, school psychologists, school counselors, and someone from Health Services. Someone from that team can help families identify the resources that are available at their school and then also connect them to community resources out there,” said DePaolo.
If you want to help families in need, reach out to organizations like Feeding Tampa Bay, the Salvation Army, and the Red Cross because they help fund the school food pantries.
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