Hundreds of families lined up for the Miami Marlins food distribution event at Loan Depot Park early Friday morning.

As the battle against inflation continues to rise, many South Florida residents\ are continuing to rely on food banks for hunger relief.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Since the beginning of the pandemic last March, Farm Share reported that they distributed nearly 137 million pounds of food to relief efforts. On Thursday, the food bank announced upgrades that will help them provide even more. According to the Florida Department of Agriculture, there were 3.4 million families in Florida with food insecurity in 2020, up from 2.8 million in 2019. To help reach those families, Farm Share held more than 22,500 community food distribution events and donated hundreds of millions of pounds of food. Other work was done, too, including ways that the group could improve efficiency on their cold storage, which would help save even more money.

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Joining the latest episode of This Week in South Florida are Florida Emergency Services director Jared Moskowitz, Chief Medical Officer at Holy Cross Hospital Dr. Eduardo Locatelli, Farm Share CEO Steve Shelley, and South Florida journalists Nancy Ancrum and Rosemary O’Hara. The full episode can be seen at the top of this page.

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – The pandemic has exacerbated an existing food crisis in South Florida where one in five children go to bed hungry, according to the Census. The politically correct wording for this is ‘food insecurity.’Fortunately, Farm Share is here to help. It’s a big operation that’s distributed 97,000,000 pounds of food since the pandemic began. The CEO of Farm Share is Steve Shelley, who also happens to be the Mayor of Homestead. He joined This Week in South Florida host Michael Putney, and their conversation can be seen at the top of this page.

Food distributions are continuing to be scheduled throughout the week in South Florida to help people struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.

WATSON ISLAND, Fla. – Meka Hamilton Beasley helps to load and unload cargo onto ships at PortMiami where cargo activity has been doing well while its cruise terminal faces devastating limitations. On Monday, Beasley and about two dozen other members of the International Longshoremen’s Association teamed up with Farm Share, which delivered a semi-truck full of fresh food to Miami’s Overtown neighborhood. “When you do work, save your money for a rainy day and it’s stormy right now,” Beasly said. This is at a time when more than 50 million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to Feeding America, a nonprofit organization. U.S. Census reports one in six adults in South Florida are experiencing food insecurity.

WATSON ISLAND, Fla. – While Miami Children’s Museum is temporarily closed to the public due to Covid-19 restrictions, it remains dedicated to serving the community and fulfilling its mission by being a beacon for South Florida families. The Museum has joined with Caleb & Calder Sloan’s Awesome Foundation and partnered with Farm Share, to help the less fortunate and hungry with an Awesome Food Giveaway on Tuesday, May 19th from 9 a.m. until noon at Miami Children’s Museum, which is located at 980 MacArthur Causeway on Watson Island in Miami. It is a contactless delivery system for a drive-thru pickup. When it is their turn, they can pull up to the distribution point with their windows up and their trunks open. There will be food packages for up to 500 families on a first-come, first-served basis.

More than 1,000 drivers picked up free Farm Share groceries on Monday morning at Dolphin Mall in Miami-Dade County. Florida House Rep. Ana Maria Rodriguez, of Doral, was among the dozens of volunteers at the drive-through food distribution event at the city of Sweetwater. Sweetwater Police Department Chief Placido Diaz said many of the drivers started to line up on Monday night. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz has been volunteering at food distribution events for weeks. For more information about how to help sponsor a Farm Share food load, view this page.

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Thousands of people continued to line up on Thursday at temporary food distribution sites in South Florida during the coronavirus pandemic. Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank C. Ortis said drivers started to line up at 6 a.m. to receive free food at Memorial Park. Christina Sorensen, the director of the Pembroke Pines Recreation & Arts, said it was the first time they held an event during the pandemic there. There were similar scenes at food distribution sites in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. He is among the millions who are suffering financially because of the mitigation strategies to save lives during the pandemic.

Later Monday afternoon, a steady stream of cars flowed into Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School for a student meal distribution. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to loom, the number of people who need food is rising. If the numbers tell the story of need in Miami-Dade County, they’re perhaps most striking at the schools. The week of March 16-20, Miami-Dade County Public Schools distributed 222,518 meals across all its district schools. WHERE TO GO: Miami-Dade County Public Schools student meal distribution sites

(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)MIAMI – To help the unemployed during the coronavirus pandemic, Farm Share of Florida is co-hosting two food distribution events on Friday in Miami’s Coconut Grove and Liberty City neighborhoods. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a survivor of COVID-19, Miami-Dade County Commission Chairwoman Audrey Edmonson and City Commissioner Ken Russell are scheduled to be at both events. The food distribution in Liberty City is from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Second Canaan Missionary Baptist Church at 4343 NW 17 Ave. The food distribution in Coconut Grove is from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Armbrister Park at 4000 Grand Ave.

FLORIDA CITY, Fla. – The need for food in Florida City, as well as other parts of South Florida, is so great that people at Saint Matthews Holiness Church started lining up as early as 5:30 a.m. That was even earlier than many of the organizers of the event arrived. New York Jets linebacker James Burgess, a Florida City native, was among the people giving out bags of chicken, bread, orange juice and other food items at the church at 1238 NW 9th Ave.Farm Share provided the food at the drive-up distribution, much of which was donated by farmers. [Check Farm Share’s Upcoming Distributions Calendar]“We’re giving back to the community,” said Burgess. Joyce Hood, a full-time school worker who hasn’t been on the job since school buildings shut down in March, was also waiting in line. McGhee said he expected the grocery giveaway to continue until 1 p.m. Thursday.

“Our fear is, once harvest season is over in the next couple of months, we’re not going to have these great items, like green beans, the tomatoes you see behind me,” says Paco Velez, CEO of Feeding South Florida. All the wonderful things that South Florida grows — we’re going to start running low.”Velez says the organization’s supply of nonperishables is already dwindling. “We’re running short on peanut butter, we’re running short on canned tuna, canned chicken,” he says. Velez says Feeding South Florida has become a 24-hour operation and has seen its distribution triple the past couple weeks. “It’s not OK if Feeding South Florida runs out food, because families are truly relying on us to meet the entirety of their needs.”HOW TO HELPhttps://feedingsouthflorida.org/http://farmshare.org/how-to-help/INFO ON FUTURE FOOD DISTRIBUTIONShttps://feedingsouthflorida.org/covid19/http://farmshare.org/food-distributions/