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:
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