About Us

Our Mission & Vision

Our Mission:
To lead our community in the fight to end hunger.

Our Vision:
That no one has to go hungry in our community.

About Us

The Harry Chapin Food Bank is the largest hunger relief network in Southwest Florida, serving Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.

We rescue, inspect, transport and distribute donated food and other grocery products to more than 150 partner agencies and programs that provide direct services to those in need. They include food pantries, soup kitchens, in-school pantries, mobile pantries, senior programs, homeless shelters, disaster relief agencies and more. The food bank provides food for about 28,000 individuals each week.

History

When the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida opened its doors as the Lee County Food Cooperative in 1983, who could have imagined that 35 years later the food bank would distribute 24 million pounds of food in a single year?

When it began, the cooperative distributed government-provided surpluses of cheese and other dairy products. Almost immediately, the cooperative began recovering other food from retailers and growers and continued to grow. In 1985, the cooperative changed its name to the Southwest Florida Food Bank to reflect its regional service area.

In 1994, our name changed to Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, a tribute to the late singer who passionately fought hunger. In 2009, the food bank moved to its current 55,000 -square-foot-warehouse in Fort Myers.

We now lead the largest hunger-relief network in Southwest Florida by partnering with more than 150 agencies in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties to feed children, working-poor families, seniors and other individuals in need.

Our milestones:

1985

June 5, 1985

Becomes Southwest Florida Food Bank

 

A volunteer takes in USDA food at the Lee County Food Cooperative in 1983, which later became the Harry Chapin Food Bank

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1990

June 5, 1990

1990

Affiliates with America’s Second Harvest, now known as Feeding America, the national organization of food banks

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1994

June 5, 1994

1994

Name changes to Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, a tribute to the late singer who passionately fought hunger

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2009

June 5, 2009

2009

Moves to its current 55,000-square-foot warehouse and offices on Fowler Street in Fort Myers

 

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2010

June 5, 2010

2010

Launches mobile pantry program to offer food directly to residents living in underserved communities

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2017

June 5, 2013

2017

Launches Care & Share: Senior Feeding Campaign

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2017

June 5, 2014

2017

Provides massive emergency relief to Southwest Florida in the wake of Hurricane Irma, distributing more than 3.9 million pounds of supplies in the first six weeks after the storm and holding 72 emergency mobile pantries in one month

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2017

June 5, 2017

2017

Opens a new 13,500-square-foot Collier County Center in Naples

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2018

June 5, 2018

2018

Distributes its 200 millionth pound of food

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