MIAMI – Hundreds of families lined up for the Miami Marlins food distribution event at loanDepot Park early Thursday morning.
With music and lots of helping hands from volunteers, at least 500 families will go home with a week’s worth of meals, according to event organizers.
For its second year, the Miami Marlins Foundation and Florida Blue also teamed up with Farm Share to transport over 5,000,000 meals across the state of Florida.
“We’re in the heart of Miami in Little Havana and we’re here to give back to the community and this food drive is something we’ve sponsored for years,” said David Wagner, Florida Blue South Florida Market President.
Local 10 News spoke with Marlins President of Business Operations Caroline OConnor who said the team is always looking to give back to the community.
“We’re welcoming our neighbors in today to receive meals for them and their families,” she said.
The food showed up in a newly wrapped refrigerated Farm Share pickup truck that hauls hundreds of thousands of pounds of food every month to help families battling food security across the state.
“In past years, I’ve been handing out food filling up trunks and you look in and people are saying gracias and thank you,” said Wagner. “They have tears in their eyes this is much needed in today’s economy. It’s needed all across Florida.”
According to a Marlins spokesperson, to bring awareness to the partnership, the three organizations provided more than 50,500 meals in South Florida and Jacksonville in 2022.
For more information on the event or how to donate, click here.